


The Second Hand Unwinds

by Dresupi



Series: You're the One I Wanna Go Through Time With [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies), X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies), X-Men (Movieverse)
Genre: 1980s, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, BAMF Darcy Lewis, Crossover, Eventual Happy Ending, F/M, Fix-It, Light Angst, Logan (2017) Spoilers, Meet-Cute, Romance, Smut, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, Whirlwind Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-25
Updated: 2017-05-02
Packaged: 2018-10-23 23:35:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 22,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10729617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dresupi/pseuds/Dresupi
Summary: Through some mistaken mathematics, Darcy Lewis finds herself stranded in 1987 for an entire week.Good thing she's got a hot mutant tour guide/bodyguard with a shaky future and silver hair.  All she has to do is sit back, not destroy the time space continuum, and you know...NOT fall in love.Easy peasy.





	1. Hey You

**Author's Note:**

> Haha, look at me, posting another fic. THING IS? THIS ONE'S ALL FINISHED! 
> 
> That's right. I got really inspired last week and decided to write this whole entire fic in a week. And it's time travel, so it's probably really good that I did that. Just to make sure there are no loose ends to tie up. :) I'll also be posting once a day, so expect to see this finished by next Wednesday. <3 
> 
> Note the ships, this _isn't_ Pietro, this is _Peter_ , Fox Quicksilver. 
> 
> This is inspired by a little [ficlet](http://dresupi.tumblr.com/post/159650844274/time-in-a-bottle-by-jim-croce-quicktaser) I wrote for Six Sentence Saturday that turned into way more than six sentences. 
> 
> Also, I want to send a super special thanks to hollyspacey, who beta-read this for me!!! <3 She's amazing. <3
> 
> This takes place mostly in 1987, so about four years following the events in Apocalypse. This would put Peter at around age 29/30? Darcy is also the same age.
> 
> Fic title from 'Time After Time' - Cyndi Lauper.

**~ September 26, 1987 ~**

The portal felt weird. 

That was the thing Darcy really took away from this experience.  Portals/wormholes/whatever the kids were calling them these days?  They felt weird.  Felt like all your insides were filled with hot ants. Or bees.  Bees that didn’t sting, but that didn’t make it any less weird.   

Also, it was just about as far from Doctor Who as it could possibly be.  

Suffice it to say, she was plenty shaken up by the time her feet touched down on the grass in front of Dr. Xavier’s mansion.  

And even though the Professor from HER time had assured her that nothing bad was going down at the mansion on this balmy day in September, 1987, she still had one hand on her taser because she’d been through enough alien invasions to know that shit like that didn’t care about timelines.  Or anything.

That was all Darcy needed, to get herself zapped unawares by some stupid alien asshole.  Become some kind of carbon skidmark on ground that she shouldn’t have been walking on anyway.  That’d make a great addition to Stark’s Super Secret Science Club Newsletter.  

Okay, so there wasn’t a newsletter.  Or a club.  But there were a group of scientists who were pretty much waiting on her to fail!

Okay, so they weren’t waiting on her to fail.  But she was very quickly coming to the conclusion that wrangling a bunch of scientists who couldn’t remember to eat regularly should be added to her Murtaugh list.  

She’d turned thirty on her last birthday.  How long was she supposed to be doing this?  She had a sneaking suspicion that her perceived boredom with her career du jour turned career de la vie had a lot to do with their offer to be the first human being to test out Bruce’s time traveling BannerTech. 

Well, it was Bruce, but it was also Jane’s as well.  And Tony provided the funds.   

It was kind of like Bruce laid an egg and then Tony built a nest out of top-of-the-line grass and twigs and then Jane sat on the egg while Tony and Bruce clucked at her like concerned chickens about whether or not she was turning it enough.      

She looked around her.  No one was nearby.  Everything looked completely innocuous.  She tucked the package from Dr. Xavier to past-him under her arm and kept the other hand on her hip, where her state of the art, birthday-present-from-the-Black-Widow taser was in its handy-dandy holster.  

She wasn’t even completely sure she’d time traveled.  Maybe she’d just teleported up to the mansion.  Everything around here looked the same.  Even down to the landscaping.

She supposed she’d find out soon enough when she went in to talk to Charles.

Charles, as he’d been insisting she call him since the day they met, had given her a small package the night before.  A brown box with an envelope elastic-banded around it.  She was supposed to drop off the package with past-Charles and make her way back to the portal immediately.  Seeing that she’d been dropped down just shy of the driveway, she’d better start booking it.  

The good doctor himself had seemed rather chipper this morning.  The future(or present?)-him, anyway.  He cited something about getting to see a good friend who he hadn’t seen in decades.  She supposed when you were as old as he was, that probably  _ was _ exciting.

She had no sooner stepped onto the gravel driveway than had something weird happened.  She fucking KNEW it was a good idea to bring this taser.  

A blur approached her, turning into a man at the last second. Seriously, what kind of horror movie bullshit was this? 

“Hey Pretty Lady, where do you think--”  And that was all he got out, because he was writhing on the ground amid clicks from her taser contacts.  

And when she said writhing?  Again, he was a BLUR. It actual facts looked like someone out of one of those Japanese ghost story flicks.  And it was freaky as hell.  

“Holy shit!” She released the trigger.  “What did I do?  I didn’t know there was a scramble function on this thing!”   

“What the FUCK?  All I did was say ‘Hi’!” he was suddenly standing right in front of her.  “And you zap me with your stun gun?  Come on…”  He straightened his jacket.  Horror movie might be an unfair description.  He wasn’t horrific looking in the slightest.

He was tall.  He had silver hair.   _ Silver hair, what even? _

His clothing wasn’t giving her any clues as to whether or not the time travel aspect of Bruce’s tech had worked. Guys still wore Pink Floyd T-shirts in her time.  As well as studded jackets and skinny jeans. Silver sneakers too. And they bleached their hair white and silver all the time as well. So no clues there.  

Of course, she’d never seen this guy in her life, and she sometimes spent weekends at the mansion when Jane and Bruce were working with Dr. McCoy.  So maybe...he was one of their dearly departed mutants?  In which case, she needed to just...move along ASAP.

“To be fair?  You didn’t say ‘Hi’, you zipped up in front of me and said ‘Hey Pretty Lady’...” she corrected him.  “Dude, you kinda scared me.”  

“Likewise…when people step out of purple portals around here, it’s kinda suspect...” he looked down at his chest.  “Wanna disconnect me, here?”  

“Not so fast…”  She held out the gun part of the taser.  “I don’t know who you are.”  

“I don’t know who YOU are either,” he countered.  “And to be honest, I’m being nice by asking you to disconnect them. I could do it myself before you even knew what hit you.”  

“I’m Darcy Lewis.  Time-Traveller.  From the future. And not to be rude, but I’m on a schedule here.”  

His eyes narrowed.  “From da futcha?” He’d switched to a really, really BAD Schwarzenegger impression and it made her want to laugh.  

“Something like that.  Except you know.  I’m not an Austrian bodybuilder and I’m not a weapon.  Like.  At all.  That taser is it.”  

“That ‘taser’ is painful…I’m Peter, by the way.  Maximoff.”  

That name meant nothing to her.  She’d never heard it before in her life.  “What’s the date, Peter?”  

“September 26th, 1987.”  

“Sweetness.  That’s the good shit,” she said, sighing with relief.  She reached over and tugged the connectors from him and started walking towards the front door of the mansion.  

And of course, he blocked the door before she could get in.  “What’s in that box, gorgeous?”  

“No idea.  It’s from the professor.  To...the professor…”  She shrugged.  “C’mon, troll-face, lemme pass.”  

He made a face.  “Troll-face?  Excuse me?  Look, I might not be Harry Hamlin or anything, but I look okay.” 

“Who in the hell is Harry Hamlin?”  

“People’s Sexiest Man Alive.”  

“Yeah, it’s Dwayne Johnson in my time.  I’ll google that Harry dude when I get home, though.”  

“You’ll what?”  Peter looked one-hundred percent confused and it took her a minute to realize that Google wasn’t a verb in 1987.  It wasn’t even a thing in 1987.  And it was going to take her too long to explain it.  

“Hey dude.  Listen.  I’m on a time limit.  I have to deliver this package to the Professor and be back out in that lawn in…” She checked her watch. “Five minutes.  You’ve already wasted two of them with your trolliness.”  

She pushed passed him and walked into the mansion.  He appeared at her side an instant later.  “Fine, but I’m coming with.  If that’s a bomb or something, I have to save everyone.”  

She rolled her eyes.  “I highly doubt the Professor would send himself a bomb from the future.”  

“I doubt it too, but like I said, I don’t know you.  You could be lying about that.  You understand, right?” He winked.  

“I understand you’re a troll.”  

“What makes me a troll?” he protested.  

“You’re refusing to let me cross the bridge.”  

“I’m  _ escorting _ you over the bridge.  That makes me the most mannerly troll in existence.”  

They had arrived at the professor’s office, so Darcy chose to ignore her kind of cute, but otherwise annoying, escort by knocking and being bidden inside.  

Her eyes nearly popped out of her head when she saw the man in the wheelchair. He was so much...younger? But he was the professor alright.  Bald as a cue ball with that same look in his eyes.  That look that belied how much he actually KNEW about you.  

“She’s telling the truth, Peter. There is no need to worry.”  

Darcy shot Peter a snotty look before handing the box to Charles.  “Nice to see you again, Professor…”  

“I must confess, for me, this is the first time we’ve met, but if my future self trusts you with something like this, then...you must be special indeed.”  

“Oh...right…” she snickered and blushed.  “Sorry.”  She glanced around the room.  “Also...want to apologize in advance...the first time I met you, I broke (or I break?) that vase…”  She pointed towards a red and black vase on an end table beside his sofa. “Apparently, it’s a keepsake or something?  So, yeah…sorry about that, Professor.”   

“I’m sure it’s quite alright, my dear…”  He turned his attention briefly to the package she’d handed him, opening the envelope first, and scanning its contents quickly.  “Ah.  Have a seat, Ms. Lewis.  Do you like tea?”  

“Sorry, I’d love to, but I’m kind of in a hurry…”  

“Future-Charles has informed me that your scientists’ figures are off.  You won’t be here for only seven minutes, you’ll be here for seven  _ days _ .”  

Darcy blanched, sitting down roughly on the sofa..  “What?”  

“Seven days.  But, I’m sure you’ll find something to pass the time.”  His eyes glanced over at Peter, who was still standing awkwardly in the doorway.  “Peter. Join us.”  

Darcy swallowed as he sat down beside her on the couch.  “I’m kind of...not prepared to stay here for a week...I didn’t bring anything…”  

“You’re welcome to stay in one of the spare rooms in the mansion.  And I’m sure we’ll be able to procure some clothing and basic necessities for you.  It might not be 2017, but we’re not completely in the dark in the 80s.”  

“2017?  That’s where you’re from?”  Peter nodded thoughtfully.  “I must look different then, if you didn’t recognize me...do I not age well?  Big face scar or something?’  

Darcy pressed her lips together, glancing over at the professor who waved his hand vaguely.  “No spoilers, please, Ms. Lewis.”  

“Oh right.  Sorry…” Peter wiped his hands on his pants.  “Sorry I was a being a ‘troll’ earlier…and sorry you’re stuck here for a week.”  

“Sorry I tased you…” she added.  

“Still...it was kinda bad-ass...not many people can catch me.”  

“I gathered.”  

Dr. Xavier was watching their interchange with more than a little interest, but it all kind of broke apart when someone arrived with tea. Darcy didn’t think she’d ever get used to how he communicated with his mind.  He glanced up at the doorway, waving him inside.  “Hank, come in.”  

Darcy spun around, expecting to see Jane and Bruce’s beloved blue colleague, but was super surprised to see a flesh and blood man. “Whoa…you look…” she snapped her mouth closed.  “You don’t know me, but I know you in the future.  Fan of your work, Dr. McCoy.”  

“Thank...you?”  

* * *

 

**~May 2, 2017 ~**

“Dr. Foster?”  Hank’s voice sounded worried as he looked at the StarkPad that Tony had thrust in his hands the second he’d arrived in their lab.  “How many times did you check your work on these figures?”  

“Quite a few, and Bruce doubled checked every time I checked...” Jane frowned as she stood from her desk.   

“Triple checked,” Bruce called from behind his computer.  

“Oh right...how could I forget…” she muttered under her breath.  She would roll her eyes, but she was fairly certain she’d strained the muscle one used to roll one’s eyes.  Between Bruce’s constant second guessing and Tony’s smart-ass remarks, that muscle was getting a steady workout.  A steady OVER-workout.  

Jane really just wanted this time travel test drive to be over and done with.  

She hoped at least that Darcy was having fun.  She’d seemed so down these past few...well...year and change.  It had been a while since Jane had seen her excited about working here. At best, Darcy looked bored.  At worst, well... 

Jane really hated to see her friend unhappy.  Maybe getting to travel through time would recharge whatever it was in her that had rolled over and died. 

“Well, you’ve both got this equation incorrectly copied…” Hank began to rewrite the equation up onto the dry erase board.  “You’ve got this backwards here…” he circled a portion.  So, an hour in our time doesn’t equal seven minutes in 1987...seven minutes in 2017 equals an HOUR there.”

Jane’s stomach dropped.  Where, she didn’t know.  She was pretty sure they could maybe find it in the basement level if they ran really fast.  Panic burned in her veins as she scrambled to come up with a solution. “Oh my god…so we have seven minutes to set up the portal or…”  

“Or you miss your chance for this time and location.”  

“I couldn’t set up the coordinates in seven minutes  _ even _ if I had the right equation…” she lamented.  “I’d need...at least a day and a half.  Maybe I could do it in twenty-four hours with competent help…”  Tony started to grouse, but Jane silenced him with a look before continuing.  “Dr. McCoy, do you mind staying and being an extra set of eyes?”

“Not at all, that’s what I’m here for anyway.”  Dr. McCoy reached for the button on his blazer, slipping it off and over his shoulders as he draped it over Jane’s desk.  

She took a deep breath and exhaled, trying to calm herself.  She was no help to Darcy if she wasn’t calm and collected.  She had some of the greatest minds in the world here in this room with her.  “So.  Our new goal is twenty-four hours. Twenty-four hours to a new portal.”

Bruce frowned.  “But that means...she’ll be there for a week!” 

“If only there was a way to send word to her…” Jane frowned, deep in thought.  “Did she take her phone?  Is there a way to get a message to her on her phone?”  

Tony interjected. “Look, I’m gonna tell you what I told her.  I’m not a mother-fucking Time Lord.  I can’t sonic-screwdriver her phone to accept calls in 1987.  Think of the phone bills, Jane.  Just THINK.”  

She narrowed her eyes.  “I was thinking about sonic-screwdriver-ing a satellite.  But I think it’d take more time than we can devote to something like that right now.” 

Hank looked pensive for a moment before speaking.  “Let me call the Professor.  He’s been known to communicate with his past self before.  Or at least...he’s been known to find ways to communicate.  I’m sure if there’s a snowball’s chance in hell of sending a message to Darcy, he’ll be able to find a way to do it.”  

She felt instantly better, her chest loosening up a little.  

“Also…” Bruce interjected.  “Stay with me here, but if each person’s timeline is fixed, as we’ve come to believe through our hypothesizing...Dr. Xavier probably  _ remembers _ Darcy visiting him in ‘87.  Maybe he already told her?”  

Tony frowned.  “So what are you saying?  Darcy already knew we were going to fuck this up?”  

“No.  But...Charles did.  And remember, he gave her a note for his past self?  And a package?” Bruce tapped his pen against his bottom lip.  “I’d say she probably already knows, but still...call the Professor and make sure, Hank.”  

Jane frowned.  “Why on earth would Dr. Xavier withhold this information from us? He could have let us know that the formula was wrong!”  

“Fixed timelines, Jane,” Bruce reminded her.  “If he had done that, Darcy would have been back much sooner.  There’s something she needs to do in 87.  Something important, I’ll bet.”   

“Very true.  Charles always has his reasons.  And I’m sure Darcy is in good hands,” Hank agreed.    


	2. Start Me Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter's POV. I tried to switch back and forth for each chapter. <3 
> 
> I really wrestled with a lot of this 80s slang, and I hope it sounds organic and not like I just dumped an entire wiki post into this chapter. 
> 
> Also, a little back story on Darcy here. <3 Cameos from from other X-Men too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, super huge thanks to hollyspacey for beta-reading this for me! 
> 
> I have a [playlist](https://open.spotify.com/user/dresupi/playlist/3R0f4pPkK49rpqoWFBvumU) on Spotify for this fic, if y'all are interested...
> 
> Also, I did an [edit](http://dresupi.tumblr.com/post/159983721354/the-second-hand-unwinds-by-dresupi-darcy). It's really crappy, but I still did it. :P

**~September 28, 1987 ~**

The purple portal had opened on the lawn and he must have been the only one who saw it.  Totally didn’t stop him from zipping out there to check it out, though.  

Of all the things to walk out of that portal, Peter hadn’t really expected _her_.  Alone.  By herself.  All smoking hot with her hand on what looked like a gun.

It wasn’t a gun, though.  

 _That’s_ what had thrown him off.   _That’s_ why it caught him square in the chest. Because he wasn’t sure what the hell it was.  It definitely _wasn’t_ because he was looking at her face and not really paying attention to what was happening.  

It was probably a good thing it wasn’t a gun, if he was being completely legit.  Because he’d be dead if was.  Instead, he just suffered a minor burn to his ego. And to his chest.  Those contacts were no joke.   

Darcy Lewis.  The smoking hot babe who walked out of a time portal and shot him with a taser.  

Which, would have been enough to turn most sane people off, but he wasn’t most sane people.  

Plus, there was just something about her.  Something that felt...right.  Even when she was so clearly wrong for this time.  She had a purse full of gadgets and a wide-eyed look that screamed innocence and safety.  And then she opened her mouth and it was pure, uncut cynicism that spewed out.

If she wasn’t perfect, he didn’t want to know what was.

He was clearly infatuated.  And that was most definitely a problem.

It was the fact that she could tell him things.  Future things.  He was sure of it.  That’s all it was.  

Peter was curious by nature, and she could tell him how _Dallas_ ended. If _Dallas_ ended.  And the Cold War.  And who was gonna win the next presidential election.

Yeah.  That was all he wanted to know.  Dukakis or Bush.  

He couldn’t even form a decent argument in his head, it was good thing literally no one else knew about this.  

She was _different_ .  If she had a theme song, it’d be “Killer Queen”. She was fucking _kick ass_.

She certainly kicked _his_ ass.      

Because let’s face it, he’d spent most of the last couple of years training with the other X-Men and being bored out of his mind.  There wasn’t a thing in this world that he couldn’t have if he wanted it.  All he had to do in most cases was reach out and take it. And that made for a fairly boring existence.  Enter Darcy Lewis and her taser/stun gun thing.

He didn’t have a fucking clue what his place was with the X-Men.  Everyone had a _thing_ they did, but his never seemed to move past, “We need to get there fast.  Go Peter!”  Which he guessed should have been a no-brainer.  True, they sometimes needed him for transport, but beyond that...Jean and Scott were more powerful.  Kurt could teleport.  Even Jubilee got more use with her plasma crackers.      

He felt like his strengths were more solo-centered.  No matter what the Professor tried to tell him.

Peter supposed that most of all, more than anything else, he wanted to know how he _turned_ out.  

But when he asked before, she made a face.  One he couldn’t read, but he was pretty sure wasn’t a good thing.  She’d seemed so _surprised_ to see him.  If she was from the future, she’d have met him, right? Future-him?  

He was so deep in thought that he very nearly missed his turn to go into the training room.  He skidded to a halt and backed up, tripping over the Professor’s wheelchair on his way.

“Ah yes, Peter…”  Dr. Xavier’s hand reached out to touch his.  “I was wondering if you’d do me a favor this week?”  

“Sure thing, Doc. Whatcha need?”  Hopefully it was a favor that would get him out of training.  He pushed his protective goggles up onto his forehead.

“Can you spend some time with our guest?  Keep her company?  I have a feeling she’s used to a... _faster_ pace.  That’s certainly something you can provide, isn’t it?”  

“I guess?” Peter chuckled dryly.  “I don’t know what I could do that would interest a chick from the future, but I’ll give it a shot.”  

“My future-self tells me that Darcy’s a fine young woman. Smart as a whip and completely under-utilized by her peers.  So...even if you were to get into a little bit of trouble?  It might do you both some good.  Just...nothing to upset the time-space continuum, eh?”

“You’re giving me _permission_ to get into trouble?”  Peter had to laugh at that. “How _could_ someone upset the time-space continuum? Just...asking for like...no reason at all.”    

“Don’t take Darcy near Willowdale, VA or Culver University.  Her mother is a literature professor there...and Darcy herself would be an infant right about now. She _cannot_ meet a past version of herself.”       

“Got it.  No taking her to visit the baby version of her.”  

“It wouldn’t be the baby she’d want to see.  It would be her mother.  Darcy lost her when she was young; fifteen years old.  Her mother probably isn’t far from her mind.  Just...try to keep her occupied.  So she doesn’t want to try to go looking for her.”  

Peter nodded. “Gotcha.  Where abouts _is_ Darcy--?”  

Xavier closed his eyes for a moment before smiling and opening them again.  “She’ll meet you in the front atrium in ten minutes.”  

“So it’s cool if I skip training?”  

Xavier nodded. “I know you, Peter.  You’ll make it up eventually.”   

He pushed the goggles back down over his eyes and zipped to the kitchen to get a soda.  He had ten minutes to kill.  

He was two chugs into his Coke when there was a pop and a _BAMF_ immediately behind him. “Kurt!”  Spinning around, he burped and crushed the empty soda can.  “You’re late for training, dude.”  

“So are you!”  Kurt offered in the way of argument, bamfing around behind Peter so he could reach the fridge door.   

“Nope.  I’ve got a special assignment from the Professor.”  

“Wouldn’t have anything to do with that babe that ported in here yesterday, would it?”  Scott asked from his perch on the countertop.  “What’s the deal with her anyway?  Jubilee said she was from the future.”  

“She is,” Jean answered, entering the room from the opposite door.  

Peter was obviously losing his touch if he hadn’t noticed all these kids in here before he zipped in.  

“Aren’t all you _children_ late for your lessons or somethin’?”  Peter asked.  “Surely you’ve got somewhere else to be. Logan’s gonna start putting his cigars out on your foreheads.”  

“She’s from thirty years in the future…” Jean continued like Peter hadn’t been talking at all.  “She wasn’t supposed to stay, but now she is…” Her eyebrow arched when she peered into Peter’s eyes.  A smirk appeared for a split second before it fell.  “And Peter’s supposed to look after her…”  

He rolled his eyes and filched the twinkie from Scott’s hand.  “Stay outta my head, Jean.”  He took a bite, encompassing half of the cream-filled treat in one bite.  “It’s not fit for visitors.”  

“She’s on her way down the stairs, don’t keep her waiting!” she called after him.  He heard the titters from the teens in the kitchen.  Why was he living here with a bunch of kids, again?  Something about finding his father that turned into him being some kind of fucked up role model for a bunch of brats.

None of them were really _kids_ anymore, he guessed. There WERE plenty of actual kids here at the mansion, but Jean, Scott and the others had aged out and just decided to stay here.  Like he was.

Except not coming up with more and more excuses to wuss out of meeting his dad.   Maybe he got why Dr. X had asked him to keep Darcy company.  He completely understood wanting to find your family.  No matter who they were or what you had to do.  This was a character building exercise.  Obviously.

He was stuffing the rest of the Twinkie in his mouth when Darcy locked eyes with him on her descent down the stairs.  So he chewed it and swallowed it as quickly as he could without choking.  

“Sorry to catch you in the middle of breakfast…” she quipped.  

“Nah, don’t worry about it...unless…” he jutted his thumb over his shoulder.  “You hungry?”  

“I wouldn’t say no to a Twinkie, if you’ve got another one…”  

“Hold on a sec..” he zipped out of the room and back into the kitchen, grabbing a second Twinkie from Scott’s hand and running back out to the foyer to deposit it in her hand.  

“Whoa.  You literally meant a second…”  She laughed nervously and took a small bite. “Oh my god, this is so much better than the ones we have…”  

“They _change_ Twinkies?”  Peter groaned.  “I don’t know if I want to live in a future where they changed Twinkies…”  He glanced back over at her, her mouth now stuffed full of the entire pastry.  “You okay over there?”  

She laughed and covered her mouth, chewing it slowly and swallowing it in pieces.  “Sorry…” she mumbled. “It’s good.”  

“Glad to hear it.”  He snickered and looked down at his shoes, unwilling or unable to address the warmth that flowed from his chest to his extremities when he looked at her.  

“So what do you have planned? What do all the hip young mutants do to pass the time around these parts?” she asked, taking a few steps towards the door.  

“Well, pretty much whatever you want...there’s a movie theater in the town proper...they’re showing _Dirty Dancing_ and _The Princess Bride_ …”  

“Classics…” she said with a nod.  

He laughed.  “I guess you’d know.  You’ve seen ‘em, then?”  

She nodded.  “ _But_ .  They’re definite repeat-view-types of films. I think I’ve seen _Dirty Dancing_ hundreds of times.  At least.”  

“No fake, for real?  I guess it’s _okay_.”  

“What do you MEAN, you ‘guess’ it’s okay?  This is a classic of romantic cinema, Peter.”  

He snort-laughed when she said ‘romantic’, feeling a warm blush rise in his cheeks.  “If you say so.”  

“I do.”  

“Huh.  Well, I haven’t actually gotten to go see _The Princess Bride_ yet.  Haven’t had a chance…”  

“If you don’t mind, I’d love to go see it with a virgin.” Darcy winked.    

His eyebrows shot up. “I’m not...I mean...I don’t know what you’ve heard but…”  

“ _Princess-Bride_ -Virgin.  Calm down, bruh.”  

“Oh I totally knew that…” he lied.  Because he totally _should_ have known that.  But the dumb ass he was got caught up in the fear that she thought he was an _actual_ virgin.    

Laughing, she took a few more steps towards the door and he sidled up beside her, placing one arm around her back and his other hand on the back of her head.

“Uhhhh,  what are you doing? Other than the weirdest tango ever.”

“Sorry, uh...this is easier...if I’m running us anywhere. I’ve had complaints about whiplash…unless you’d rather just like...climb on my back?  You can tuck your head and it’s not as nauseating.  So I’m told.”  

Darcy stepped out of his grasp and reached into her pocket.  “No need for any of that, because I have car keys.”    

He exhaled slowly, folding his arms.  “Lame.”  

“Sorry if being dragged around like a limp rag doll doesn’t appeal to me.”  

“Okay, like...they don’t call me Quicksilver for nothing…” he reached up and ran his hand through his hair.  “I’m hella fast, Gorgeous.”  

“Hella fast, huh?  Not just fast, but hella.  Hella fast.”  

“Do they not say ‘hella’ anymore in 2017?”  

“Naw, they say it...” She smiled and twirled the keys around her finger.  “So...you want shotgun, I’m assuming?”  

He made a face and reached out to grab the keys.  “I can drive. Just tell me where we’re going…”   

“Okay...Willowdale, VA.  I’d like to go visit my mom and rip a hole in the space/time continuum. You up for it, Sparky?”  

He frowned slightly.  “Sorry, don’t know how to get there...what’s your second choice?” Nervously, he glanced around. “I can take you literally anywhere else. We can go to New York City, if you want?  But I’d really recommend letting me run us there.  It’s hard to find a place to park.”     

“DUDE, chill.  I’m kidding.  Jane already told me that’s a no-no.  Plus, if I’m going to visit my mom, I’d rather go back to when she’d know who I was.  I was just checking to see if you’re doing this out of the goodness of your heart or if you’re my baby sitter.”

“Who’s Jane?”  he asked, sensing a change of subject from Darcy’s dead mother would be the safest bet.  

“Oh right.  She’s one of the scientist people behind this whole time travel thing. Also, my BFF.  Also also, dates a certain God of Thunder, but you can keep that hush-hush, if you don’t mind…” she swiped her thumb over the tip of her nose and winked up at him.  

“God of Thunder?  Which one?”  

She rolled her eyes.  “I swear.  Name dropping does nothing around here, does it? No one even knows Tony.”  

“Tony who?”  

“Stark.”  

Peter frowned.  He’d heard that name before.  “Oh right.  He’s that rich guy’s son who blew up a lab at MIT.”  

“OH MY GOD, WHAT?”  

He grinned.  “Yeah, he blew up some big lab.  You know, if one of us had done that?  We’d be in prison.  But him?  He gets a building named after him.”  

She snorted.  “Yeah...that sounds like Tony.”   There was a long silence.  Well, maybe it wasn’t super long, but it certainly felt that way.  “So.  What’s the E.T.A on the wheels?  Can we get going, Maximoff?”

“Wheels.  Yeah.  Yeah, we’ve got wheels.  We’ve got a whole bunch of wheels. Follow me.  I’ll go slow so you can keep up.”  He winked at her and could have sworn he saw a grin start to emerge.  Which, let’s face it, is the only reason to wink at a chick.  

Okay.  He was going to call it.  She was cute.  Mega cute.  He’d even venture to say something beyond that if someone made him. He wasn’t kidding around when he called her ‘Gorgeous’.  

He opened the door to the garage and flipped on the light switch. “I think the yellow one is us...it’s kind of old, but so is Charles.”  

She took a few steps towards the convertible.  “Can we put the top down?”  

“It’s whatever you want, Sweet Cheeks.  It doesn’t bother me.” He zipped around to unlock her door.  “Also, where _are_ we going? You never said.”  

“Oh, I have some money from the Professor...to go get some era-appropriate clothing…”  

What that meant was that he’d be demoted to bag boy for the rest of the afternoon.  Thing was, he didn’t really care.  He’d carry bags for her.  

She continued, “Which is going to SUCK because I hate shopping in my time, I can’t imagine I’m going to like it now…unless...I guess I get 1980s prices, so that’s something to be happy about.”  

“I guess.”  Peter shrugged, walking towards the car.  He vaulted over the car door and landed safely in the driver seat.  “I usually just _take_ all my stuff.”  

“Are you serious?”  Darcy opened her door and sat down in the passenger seat.  “Should we not go to the mall, then?  Do they know you there?”  

He snorted.  “Nobody’s ever gotten a good look at me.  Don’t worry.  We’ll be good.”  He turned the key and revved the engine.

“Oh and Peter?” .  

“Hmm?”  

“Don’t call me ‘Sweet Cheeks’.”  

“Sugar lips?”  

“Don’t reckon you’d know if that was true or not.”  

“What about ‘Gorgeous’? Don’t tell me you had a problem with ‘Gorgeous’.”   

“I only have a problem if you don’t mean it.”  

He shifted the car into drive and back into park again because he’d forgotten the garage door. She got out, walking towards the garage door panel on the wall.  He beat her to it, opening the door and zipping her back to the car.

She blinked, her eyes focusing on his face as she gripped the edge of the car seat.  “Has anyone ever told you how terrifying that is?”  

“Right...sorry…I’ll try to give you a heads up next time.”  

“Speaking of ‘heads up’, since you’re babysitting me, you should know that I get hungry around eleven in the A.M.  Also?  I require regular caffeine sustenance throughout the day or I get cranky.”  She patted his shoulder briefly before reaching for her seat belt.

He smirked.  “Good to know.”  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on [tumblr](http://dresupi.tumblr.com/), if that's your thing! <3


	3. Fight For Your Right

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not every chapter will equal a day in the past, even though I know it looks that way right now. 
> 
> Also, there is Dr. Xavier being cryptic af at the beginning here. I think in the grand scheme of things, he deserves for Darcy and Peter to sneak around behind his back, don't you? 
> 
> Just to be completely clear, 2017 Hank and the Professor know exactly what's going on. They are just giving as little information as possible because anything they let slip could affect how Bruce, Tony and Jane react and work on the fixit for the portal. And it has to happen the way it's supposed to. IF that makes any sense at all. <3 It's also kind of the reason Hank and Charles don't feature heavily in the past narrative. To kind of let it happen the way it's supposed to happen. 
> 
> Time travel stuff always makes me go a bit cross-eyed...I hope I made this easy to understand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, special thanks to Hollyspacey! Who is a bright ray of sunshine and a wonderful beta! <3 
> 
> And to everyone who's commented and/or kudos'd: Thank youuuu! Your enthusiasm makes me happy I wrote this. <3

**~May 2, 2017 ~**

“An unbreakable loop?” Tony asked, arching his eyebrows quizzically.  “You’re shitting me right?   

“Not that I’m aware of, Mr. Stark.”  Xavier’s smooth voice was cool and soothing.  “It’s not unheard of.”  

“What was in the package you gave her?” Jane asked, rubbing her eyes.  Bruce and Hank were working diligently on the equation, giving her a moment to rest her eyes and brain.  

The professor’s mouth tugged up into a smile.  “A replica vase.  Identical in every way to a gift I received in my youth. I replaced the original with the fake on the day that Ms. Lewis first met me...in _her_ timeline, mind you.  She bumped into a table and broke the vase. But, since it was a copy, my original keepsake is intact.”  

Jane frowned.  “I don’t understand…the first time Darcy met you wasn’t the first time you met _her_?”

“Of course not, Dr. Foster.  I met Darcy Catherine Lewis for the first time on September 26, 1987.  Why do you think I gave you that date for your test run?”  

She shook her head to clear it.  “You put my assistant in jeopardy for a _vase_?”  

“No ma’am.  The vase was...the vase was a pretense.  There is something _far_ more valuable she is in the process of saving.”

It seemed as if every bit of information she got from the professor was shrouded in ten more secrets.  

“I think everyone’s ignoring the true mind-fuck here...where the hell did that knockoff vase come from?” Tony asked.  

“A flea market, Mr. Stark. Surely you’ve heard of them?” Xavier answered, not missing a beat.  

“But the vase...you sent it back to 1987 to your former self.  Then _you_ put the vase out.  Then Darcy breaks it.  But then... _you_ buy it again at a flea market?”  

“Not again.  For the first and only time.”  

“But you said it was a loop.”

“Indeed.  Just because a loop begins in a place other than the linear beginning, doesn’t make it any less of a loop. You can’t hold a circle to the same rules as a line.”

“That’s true, Tony…” Jane agreed, if only to irritate Tony a little more.  “There are curves in a circle.”    

Tony blinked a few times.  “I need more coffee.”    

* * *

 

**~ September 29, 1987 ~**

Darcy hadn’t really expected to have this much fun.  

Okay, so she hadn’t really expected to have ANY fun sans Wi-Fi and Netflix, but she was. And she was pretty sure it had everything to do with Peter.

They’d gone to the mall yesterday.  An actual facts 1980s mall.  Bustling with people and stores and everything.  Seriously, it was mind boggling how much the mall was booming.  

And Peter?  Peter Maximoff was kind of a dick, but so was she. So the banter was titillating.  

He complained about it (none too quietly), but he held her bags.  AND bought her an Orange Julius.  Which, tasted hella _amazing_ in the 80s, thank you.

It had kind of been a really fun day.  Even if she was shopping for clothes with a superfast mutant kleptomaniac peeking over her shoulder.  It had taken an act of Congress to get him to leave her alone so she could buy bras.  

Like, sorry, but bra buying when you had knockers like Darcy was an experience.  A religious one.  In that she had to bow down to the Goddess of Mammary and pray and make offerings and light candles in the hopes that the store would have something that fit her.  

And none of that was suitable for other human eyes.  Or mutant, as the case might be.  

Luckily, the goddess was smiling on her that day, and she was able to find something in her size.  Nothing particularly nice looking, but it was functional.  And besides, no one but her was going to be seeing it anyway.

They’d grabbed lunch at a Burger King and holy mother, could that boy pack down a Whopper!  It was almost gross, but in that fascinating way where she couldn’t look away.  

And still, even while she was having fun and getting a legitimate 1980s mall shopping experience, she couldn’t help but think about her mom.  Her mom who was eight hours away from her right now.  Her mom who she hadn’t seen in fifteen years.  

And every time her mind was left to wander, that’s exactly where it went.  

But that was yesterday.  And now it was today.  Possibly.  Darcy wasn’t sure _what_ to call her current present, so she just didn’t think about it too much.

She’d told herself that she was going to ask.  Just _ask_ if they could go see her.  Peter told her before that they couldn’t, but maybe if she could just appeal to him emotionally.  It was her _mom_.  

He had a mom.  Everyone had a mom. It was a relatable feel.

“So like...what do you usually do for fun?  You know.  Back home?”  Peter was lounging back in the desk chair in her room.  A respectable distance away from her bed, where she was flipping through one of the magazines she’d bought the day before.  

“Netflix. Mario Kart championships with Sam and Bucky…update my Twitter…”  

Peter blinked once and shook his head.  “Didn’t catch any of that.”  

She giggled.  “You asked.  I answered.”  

“Care to explain, or are you going to just just vaguely drop the names of things that i won’t know the meaning of for thirty years?”  

“Netflix.  It’s a website where they store digital copies of movies and TV shows and for a low monthly fee, you can watch any of them you want, any time you want for as long as you want.”  

“Website... _that’s_ on the internet.”  

“Very good,” she answered, flipping another page to read about lipstick.  She’d kind of explained the internet to the best of her ability the day before.    

“Like, what shows?  Show’s I’d have heard of, or?”  

“Cheers,” she answered.  “Have you ever watched Cheers?”  

“I’m a living, breathing, American male with a TV.  Of course I’ve watched Cheers.”  

“Okay.  Well.  I can watch Cheers whenever I want.  The whole series.  Any episode.  From its entire run. Even the ones you haven’t seen yet.”  

“No fucking way.”  

“Yes fucking way.  And when I’m done?  I can watch the spin off.”  

“THERE’S A SPINOFF? BITCHIN’!”  He dropped his feet from the top of the desk.  “No fake? Who gets a spinoff?  Carla?  Diane?”  He zipped over in front of her.  “Don’t tell me it’s Cliff.”  

“Do you really wanna know? You have to promise not to go place bets or anything.”  

He rolled his eyes. “I have other ways of procuring cash, believe me.”  

“Okay.  Well. it’s Frasier.”  

“FRASIER? I’m _so_ sure...”  He huffed out a sigh and slid down onto the floor, his back to her.  “How does _that_ happen?”  

“Dude, I dunno the specifics, I just know that you can watch Kelsey Grammer’s hairline recede for about...twenty years worth of T.V in a week and a half of Netflix binge watching.”  

“Huh.  Wow.”  He reached over his shoulder and took the magazine from her, flipping through the pages.  “Is this Cosmo?”  

She snorted, moving closer to the edge so she could look over his shoulder. “What gave it away?  The cover?  Jane and I used to buy these to make fun of the sex tips. Turns out, not much has changed in thirty years.  Cosmo has always given shitty sex tips.”  

He smirked and flipped the page again.  “I don’t know about that...look, these promise to drive your man wild…” he paused, clearing his throat.  “You...uh...you got one of those?”  

“What?”  She squinted at the page.  

“Uh...a man?”  

“OH, a _man_.  No.  Nope.  I’m kind of...between men right now.  Not...literally.  But no.  No man. How about you?”  

“Me too.  Between men right now…” he winked.  

Darcy paused, unsure if Peter was outing himself or if he was teasing her.  

“Between _women_ too,” he added.  “I don’t...have...a...somebody.  Right now.”  

“Oh.  That’s...good to know,” she answered, immediately regretting it.  She peered hard at the magazine page.  Which of course, was still five ways to drive your man wild with ice and shoe laces.  

_Shoe laces?  You’ve gotten completely off topic here.  Damn Peter Maximoff and his pretty brown eyes._

“Is it?” he asked, practically simpering. “Or are you talking about the thing with the shoe laces?  Because I’m going to have to stop you before you inflict that on some poor dude’s dingaling.”  

She laughed and buried her face in what she thought was the bed, but was really his shoulder.  He didn’t flinch away, so she went with it. He smelled nice, sue her.  “No, I was talking about the ice thing.  All guys like ice on their nipples, right?”  

“Can’t speak for all of them, but I’m going to have to say no.  Personally.  No.”  

“Now, it _has_ been my experience that guys like ice in other places.  But nipples...what is it with these magazines and guy’s nipples?  They aren’t as sensitive as women’s and they never will be.  I think it’s probably just a bunch of virgins who have never seen a dick in their lives, trying to come up with sex tips, so they figure what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. But like...honestly?  The gander’s never really noticed his nipples before and that’s for good reason.”  

He was staring up at her by the time she was done with her rant.  Which was very obviously a cover for the fact that she’d just admitted that she was glad to hear that he was unattached. “Guy’s nipples, huh?  Weird thing to climb up on a soapbox for, but alright.  I was more bothered by number five, where they’re telling you to floss his dick with shoe laces...that just…” He shook his head with a grimace.  “I will skip dick flossing if given the choice. Always.”  

He shifted uncomfortably, tossing the magazine and spinning around just in time to keep her from nose diving onto the carpet.   His hands tightened on her shoulders and he grinned.  “Sorry about that…forgot you were leaning on me...”  

Of course, that brought them dangerously close to being face to face, and Darcy wasn’t sure she was ready for face to face with a dude from the past.  A dude that she couldn’t for the life of her place as having ever seen before.

And if he wasn’t in the future and no one talked about him?  There were only a few scenarios of how that could pan out..  And there was no way in hell that she was falling for a guy who wasn’t going to be in her future.  She was done with that.

Darcy was absolutely through being flung, thank you very much.  No matter how cute and perfect for her the guy was.  No matter how un-flingable this felt.  

She planted her hands on the mattress and pushed up, turning to the side and swinging her legs around to stand on the floor.  Solid ground was her friend.  

“So like...how far is it from here to Virginia?”  she asked, walking towards the door, blurting it out before she could stop herself.  Anything to keep the topic safely _off_ her growing attraction for the silver-haired mutant who had nothing but trouble written all over him.  Probably went through women left and right.  Hand over fist.  She’d be a minor blip on his radar, but like she said before, she was done being flung.

So she was nipping this.  Back to business.    

She could practically hear the frown in his voice as Peter zipped up beside her.  “It’s about an eight-hour drive…”  

“Which is like...what? Like a minute for you?”  

“Less, if I’m really booking it. But if I had cargo, it’s a little longer.  Even longer with human cargo.  The extra weight slows me down a little.”  

“So like what?  Five minutes?”  

“Ideally.  Too bad we can’t test it out…” He zipped over in front of the door.  “Because you promised me that you wouldn’t ask.”  

“And I _haven’t_ asked _you_ to do anything…”  She reached for the keys on her nightstand.  “It’s an eight-hour drive.  So I guess I’d better get going.”  

“Darcy…”  He reached out to place his hands on her shoulders, keep her from moving forward..  “It’s the _only_ thing the Professor said we couldn’t do.  The only _place_ he said we couldn’t go.”  

She pressed her lips together.  “I just...I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t see her…”  She could feel tears start to burn behind her eyelids, and she refused to start crying and ruin her chances of making a coherent plea.  “She’s my mom, Peter.  My mom.”  

He looked conflicted.  “Look, I know something about lost parents and wanting to see them, but sometimes...Darcy...it’s not the right time.  If past you sees _you_ -you, it could tear some holes in the universe.  Which is no bueno, from what I gather...”  

She took a deep breath.  “What about if we went to see her _at_ the university?  At Culver?  While she’s at work?  She never took me to work with her because she was scared I’d get sick.  I stayed safe at home an hour away with Dad.  Can we do that?  I don’t need to talk to her, I just need to _see_ her.  Peter?  Please?”  She knew her eyes were welling up, but she couldn’t help it.  

It had been fifteen years.  And her mother was eight hours away from her.  She _had_ to see her.  And she’d just steal the car and drive down tonight if he said no.  

He bit his lip and sighed, his hands going into fists at his sides before he relaxed them again.  He zipped over to the window and back again.  He kept starting sentences and stopping.  Lots of ‘Buts’ and ‘why can’t you justs’ before he finally spoke.  

“If we do this?  You have to keep it a secret.  From everyone.  Xavier, especially.  I mean...I feel bad just considering this.  He asked me specifically to keep you from doing this.  And now, here you are, three days here and asking for it.  And here I am, letting you convince me…I’m not happy with this…”  

She had the good nature to press her lips together.  To look down at her hands.  “We can do whatever _you_ want when we get back.”  

He sighed.  “I want to _not_ do this?  Can we go back in time and not do this?”  

“I’m pretty sure I’m already back in time. Plus, I’m just asking for five minutes.  Let me peek through a door at her.”  

“Two minutes.  We look in from outside.”  He crossed his arms in front of his chest.  

“Outside, four minutes,” she countered, taking a step towards him and delighting as he took a step back towards her open bedroom door.   

“Three minutes.  Binoculars.  Final offer.”  

“If we’re using binoculars, I want five minutes.”  

His mouth fell open and he gazed at her in utter disbelief.  “That’s not how you barter, Lewis. Three minutes.  Binoculars.  Or nothing.”  

She narrowed her eyes.  “Fine.  Nothing.”  She pushed him backwards and out the door, which she slammed promptly in his face.  

She’d go on her own.  No big.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on [tumblr](http://dresupi.tumblr.com/), if you tumble.


	4. Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay, okay. So this romance gets slightly more romantic in this chapter. ;) 
> 
> Also, there's more Peter POV in this chapter. And some Jean via telepathy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More thank yous to Hollyspacey! <3 <3 <3

**~ September 30, 1987, 12:34 am ~**

Peter fucking  _ knew _ she wasn’t giving up that easily.  He’d be disappointed if she did.   _ He _ certainly wouldn’t.  

So he called in a favor with Jean.  She owed him.  For several things, actually.  But the biggest of which was jetting her to the box office in three seconds to get Bruce Springsteen tickets before they sold out.  

She was going to listen in on Darcy’s thoughts and let him know if it looked like she was going to make a break for it.  Possibly a little intrusive, but the fate of the universe hung in the balance.  And he wasn’t going to let her do this alone, anyway.  Seemed like a super emotional topic for her.  So she might need somebody unaffected to help her with the decision making.  

And that was  _ all _ .  

He was still smarting a little from having the door slammed in his face.  Goddamn, she was stubborn.  It was two minutes for fuck’s sake.  She couldn’t give an inch?  Or two minutes?  What was that in the grand scheme of things, honestly?  What was her damage?

Even as he was thinking it, he knew it wasn’t an inch.  It wasn’t two minutes.  

It was fifteen years of not seeing her mom.  Of losing her and thinking she was gone forever, only to get the chance to see her again.  And to have some dickweed bodyguard tell her no. 

She’d been crying.  And he  _ knew _ she was crying.  He could tell by how thick her voice got and how she kept blinking back the tears.  He should have just taken her.  Let her sit there and spy on her mother for as long as she wanted.  

He almost got up to tell Jean never mind, except she popped in at that precise moment moment.  

_ “Hey dickweed.  Your girlfriend’s heading down to the garage to take a car.  Thought you should know.”   _

He rolled his eyes.   _ “You kiss your mother with that mouth?”   _

_ “Hey...I got it from you.  Only repeating what I heard last.”   _

_ “Well knock it off.  Get outta my head, Jean. And thanks.”   _

_ “See ya tomorrow, Dicksilver...and Peter?”   _

_ “Hmm?”   _

_ “I think you should know better than anybody what she’s going through.  Try to go easy on her, okay?”   _

_ “She’s not my girlfriend.”   _

_ “I said that at the very beginning.  And you’re just now realizing?”   _

_ “Later, Jean.”   _

He zipped down to the garage before he could sit there and worry about exactly what that little slip up had meant, landing in the passenger-side seat just as she was sticking the key in the ignition.  “Heya, Gorgeous.”  

She jumped a mile, throwing the keys in his face and fumbling for the door before she registered that it was him in the car with her.  “Don’t call me that.  Fuckface.” She made a grab for the keys, but he kept them just out of reach.  

“You don’t like any of my nicknames.  Why is that?  Am I that bad at it?”  

“You have no reason to come up with a nickname for me.  I’m leaving in four days and you won’t ever see me again.”  

He frowned, swallowing hard.  “What?”  

Her eyes widened.  “I...I mean...you won’t see me like...this...again…” She pressed her lips together and made another grab for the keys.  He tugged them back further. 

“Am I in your future?”  

“The professor asked me not to--”  

“I don’t give a shit what the professor asked you to do. He also asked you not to go looking for your mom.  So tell me. Am I in your future?”  

She shook her head.  “I’ve never seen you before. Or in the future.  This is the first and only time I’ve met you.”  

“Am I dead?”  

She shrugged.  “I have no idea.  All I know, is that I’ve met Jean before, Scott, Kurt, Jubilee...Logan...The Professor, Hank, Erik and Raven. Ororo.  And never  _ once _ has any of them mentioned you.”  

He sat back hard in the seat, letting the keys drop down into the floorboards.  “They don’t remember me?  Or did I do something bad?  Maybe I…” He trailed off and shook his head.  “What could have happened?”  

She shook her head.  “I just said they’ve never mentioned you to me.  A lot of shit goes on in that mansion that I know nothing about.”  Darcy sat back in the seat.  “I’m sorry I let it slip.  I really am.”  She covered her face with her hands.  “I was the wrong person to send back in time.  But for some STUPID reason, the Professor from my time insisted that it should be me.”  

“He must think highly of you, then. He doesn’t ever do anything without a good reason.”  

“I don’t know why...I’m a fucking dunce.  Telling people their futures when I should not be given that kind of authority or power.  God…it was only supposed to be for seven minutes.  I mean, even I can’t mess anything up in seven minutes!  But give me a week and I’ll fuck it all to hell.” 

“You haven’t messed anything up, Darce…”  

She shook her head and reached for the door.  She pulled the handle and got out of the car, slamming it behind her.  

“Where are ya going?” he called after her, taking the keys and jamming them in his pocket.  

“Back to bed.  I’m just...going to go stay there until it’s time for me to go back home.”  

“What about seeing your Mom?” he asked, zipping up beside her.  “We can still go.”  

“I’ll just screw something up.  More than I already have…”  

“Hey…” He reached for her hand, closing his fingers around it and pulling her gently so she stopped walking away from him.  “Hey...you didn’t screw anything up.  Listen...Darce.  I’m… I’m a loser.”  

“You’re not a loser.”  

“I  _ am _ a loser.  Okay?  I live with my mom.  In her basement.  I’m thirty years old.  And I live in my Mom’s basement. When I’m not living in a boarding school for teenage mutants.  If I’m not there in your future, it’s probably because I found something to do.  Somewhere to go.  And that’s nothing if not hopeful.”  

“Or you’re dead.”  

“If I’m dead, I hope I die doing something heroic.”  

“Well. Maybe you just die taking a shit.  Like Elvis.”  

“Maybe it’s a heroic shit,” He grinned and realized that he was still technically holding her hand.  Not only that, she was technically holding his too.  And he was down for that.  More of that.  Please.  

“One can only hope…” she replied, returning his smile.  Hers was better, though.  She had a great smile.  Lit up her entire face.    

“See?  Not ruined in the slightest.  To be honest, I’d rather not be some geriatric fast dude.” 

She was starting to pull her hand away, and as much as he didn’t want to, he still let her fingers slip from his.  Darcy crossed her arms over her middle, standing there in the dimly lit garage.

He spun the keys around his finger and handed them back to her.  “How about...you go back inside and get some sleep?  And we’ll head down to Willowdale tomorrow?  I’ll run you down.  Five minutes down, then you can see your mom, we’ll head back up, and go see a movie?”  

“Three minutes with binoculars. That’s a thirteen minute round trip…I could do a lot of damage in thirteen minutes.”  

“You’re right…” He shifted back on his other foot.  “Better make it an even fifteen.  Less unlucky than thirteen. Unless you wanted to like...up it to...twenty..or twenty-five?”  

She looked like she was going to cry again, the way her hands clutched at the side seams of her sweater.  Like she was looking for something to hold onto.  “Fifteen is fine…any more than that and…” she swallowed thickly.  

“Fifteen,” he agreed, wanting to reach out to hug her.  Wrap his arms around her.  Give her something other than herself to hold onto.  He was fairly sturdy.  For things like that…  But he didn’t.  He just stood there awkwardly for a moment before changing the subject.  “Want me to walk you back to your room?”  

“I think I’m gonna go like...circle the grounds.  I’m a little...keyed up?”  

“Want company?”  

She nodded, dropping her hands from her sides and reaching out to lace her fingers with his.  Which made his stomach flip.  It was pleasant, though.  The feeling it gave him.  

“What movie are we seeing?” she asked.  

“Umm...Dirty Dancing and The Princess Bride are both still playing, so…whichever one you want...”  

“Is there any way we can go see them both?” she asked, swinging their arms slightly.

“Sure. I’m down for a double feature.” 

“And we have to buy tickets.”  

He groaned. “Oh come  _ on _ ...I almost hate doing that on principle...I’ve never paid for a movie ticket in my life.”  

“And you won’t pay for this one either.  It’s my treat.”  

“I  _ can _ pay for tickets, I just choose not to,” he grumbled.    

“Never said you couldn’t...just said I was paying.”  

“I’m buying the popcorn then,” he said suddenly.  He wasn’t really bothered that she was buying the tickets, but the desire to do something for her was kind of intense at that precise moment.     

“I get my own bucket, sticky fingers.”  

“Ouch.  Cha-ching.  You’re not a cheap date, are you?”  He swung her arm again as they walked.  

She shrugged.  “I dunno.   _ This _ is pretty inexpensive…”  

“Oh, is  _ this _ a date?” he asked, his stomach swooping again at the thought.  

“Feels like one…” she said.  “I’m nervous as hell, worried I screwed everything up, and we’re holding hands. Yep.  That’s the trifecta of Darcy Lewis on a date.”  

He tightened his hold on her fingers, pulling her to a halt.  “You didn’t screw anything up…”  

“Feels like I did...I have this gross feeling in the pit of my stomach...and I can’t stop thinking about…” she paused.  “I just can’t stop thinking.  It’s a problem, okay?  I’m aware of it.”  

He didn’t even realize he was going for it until he was already gone.  His hand slid up behind the back of her neck, the other still clasped tightly in hers as he pressed his lips to hers.  She tasted good.  Like toothpaste.  

The scent of the coconut shampoo she’d bought the day before wafted up into his face and he had to push down the desire to bury his head in her hair.  Let that scent wash over him. 

She tilted her head, moving her lips against his, giving his tongue an opening to sneak through.  He licked at the seam of her lips, his skin tingling as she dragged her fingertips up and down his bare forearm.  He had to fight not to go faster.  To speed up past the pace she was going.  

He let the kiss end naturally, let it die down and pressed his forehead against hers.  “Now you don’t have anything to be nervous about.”  

“You just gave me so many other things to be nervous about…” she whispered.  

“Like what?  First kiss is out of the way.  That’s definitely the most stressful thing.”  

“I can think of a few other firsts that are more stressful.”    

He was pretty sure his eyes widened visibly, because she leaned up and kissed his lips before turning to walk some more, her hand still clasped in his.  

“We don’t...have to do any of that if you don’t want to…” he offered.  To be honest, he was nervous as hell about that, too.  What if he didn’t measure up to what guys in the future did in the sack?  Or what if she was into something weird that he didn’t know how to accommodate?  

“Wouldn’t be much of a fling if we didn’t…” she said with a small smile.  

“Is that what this is?”  

“It’s what it’s gonna have to be…”  

He let his tongue run over his teeth.  “I haven’t flung anyone in a long time...might be a bit rusty…”  

“Same.  Mind the bats if you plan on spelunking.”  

He laughed.  “Spelunking...is that what they call it in the future?”  

“I’m pretty sure no one calls it that.  I’m just horribly awkward, sorry.”  

He shook his head.  “You’re not.  I think you’re...I hesitate to say funny.  But I think you’re funny.”  

“Glad someone does…”

“So are we flinging?” he asked, mentally trying to remember if he had condoms in his room or not.  He was going to go with no.  Considering how long it had actually been.  

“Maybe not tonight, because it’s late…but maybe...maybe tomorrow?  We can just see where it goes?  What happens?  Maybe if I don’t destroy the time-space continuum, then we can celebrate.  By flinging.”  

“And spelunking?” he added.  

She bumped into him with her shoulder in response.  “Yeah.  Flinging and spelunking.”  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on [tumblr](http://dresupi.tumblr.com/)!


	5. I Ran

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lots of things happen in this chapter...
> 
> I dunno if y'all have noticed, but I'm giving little hints in the present day vignettes every other chapter with Jane and Hank. Everything's going to come together in the end, but I'm hinting at it now! 
> 
> There are some feels. Peter feels. Darcy feels. Darcy talks about her mom. Peter talks about his sister. (Little sister, because I couldn't figure out a way to stick Wanda in this fic and I'm sorry about that, perhaps another time. I named the little sister Amy, because it felt like an era appropriate name. Her name isn't ever given in DOFP, so... *shrugs*) 
> 
> Mentions of losing a parent and grief. 
> 
> Also? Slightly smutty stuff happening at the end. Definite coitus interuptus happening, though. Like, I don't know if Jean is actually aware of everything happening in the mansion, so I kind of played fast and loose with the rules here. *shrugs* Squint and move on, I guess. :P

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you hollyspacey for beta reading this! <3

**~ May 3, 2017, 2:47 a.m ~**

“Dr. Foster…” Hank sighed, rolling his head around on his shoulders for a moment.  “We’re all exhausted.  We’d do well to take a break.  A nap, if you will.  There isn’t much left to do, but what is left is critical...we should at least attempt to be rested.”  

“So rest…” she snapped, rubbing her eyes and cursing when one of her contacts fell out, sticking to her hand. “But first, hand me my purse.”  

She had her contact case and solution in there somewhere.  Not to mention a couple pairs of glasses.  

He did as she asked, and she got both of the contacts into the case with little trouble.  But he wasn’t resting.  He wasn’t moving.  

“You can go, Dr. McCoy.  I’m fine.”  

“But you’re not…” he insisted, his tone taking on that of the Hank who had asked her out to coffee once, only to never follow through with definitive plans.  “Jane…” 

She jammed her glasses onto her nose and ignored him.  

“Jane...you can talk to me,” Hank insisted, his hand reaching out and stopping just shy of hers. 

“She’s going to quit.  Darcy is…” Saying the words felt freeing somehow.  But she was still consumed by dread, like a stone in her stomach.  

“So?  I’ve been waiting for her to find her place for years.  If she’s found it, why begrudge her?”  

Jane shook her head.  “I owe all my success to her...and it’s my fault she hasn’t found it before now.”  

“Ah.  You’re feeling guilty…”  Hank’s hand closed around hers.  She never knew why he was so skittish.  His fur was soft. She twisted her wrist so her palm lay flat against his, their fingers lightly lacing.

“That’s putting it mildly…” Jane took a deep breath.  “I’ve been selfish.  And...I’m still being selfish.”  

“Maybe so...but you’ve never wronged without righting whatever it was.”

“That’s what I’m trying to do here,” she confessed.  “I want to get her back...so I can apologize for...for everything.”

“And you will.  But I think you need to rest.  So you don’t miss any of their mistakes…” Hank gestured towards Bruce and Tony, who were snoring with their heads down on the counters in front of them.  

She nodded, standing up to go crash on the sofa in her office.  As she made her way to the door, Hank dropped her hand, and slipped from her fingers.  She paused, turning to face him again.  

“What or who is she saving?  Do you know?  Did the Professor tell you?”

He looked down, yellow eyes darting before he caught her gaze again.  “He only told me what he thought I should know.”

It was a statement so vague that she couldn’t find fault with it.  Of course, it was also so vague that it could mean anything.     

The wheels in Jane’s head began turning.  There was something Hank wasn’t telling her.  There was a lot he wasn’t telling her.

She wondered if there was a way to wake Tony up...    

* * *

 

**~September 30, 1987, a little after 9 a.m ~**

Darcy’s stomach was full of butterflies. And not just because she’d just travelled some three hundred sixty miles in a matter of minutes, either.  Even though it took her longer than she’d care to admit to shake off that feeling.  

Peter’s hand on her back was nice.  He even offered to hold her hair back for her.  “I told you...you should have just climbed on my back…” He tucked her hair behind her ear.  Seriously, everything he did was so nice and tender and just…

Reminded her of the fact that they’d kissed for the better part of an hour the night before.  

Longest she’d macked on someone in a good long while, if she was being honest.  

He was a good kisser, what could she say?  Her lips were even a little sore this morning. Turns out he was a nibbler.  Not a bad trait at ALL, mind you.  But like...this was a high school problem, wasn’t it?  Not a problem thirty-year-olds had, right?  

She supposed thirty-year-olds who were time-travelling and didn’t want the baggage that came with sleeping with someone in the past might possibly have this problem.  

Even though the thought of that potential baggage wasn’t really putting off her desire to jump his bones.  Repeatedly.  As many times as they could before she had to leave.  

Even now, when she was fairly certain her stomach had been left behind in New York and was jogging like an out-of-shape forty-year-old to catch up to them...she still kind of wanted to push him down in the bushes here and just...take a little bit of a test drive?  

God, was that gross?  This was just about sex, after all. This was lust.  She was lusting after a guy who was technically thirty years older than her.  He could for real be her father, if you know...she didn’t know  _ who _ her father was and  _ where _ he was at this precise moment.  

But did it count if they were the same age currently?  Because they totally were.  Technically.  

She took a deep breath and reached up to squeeze his hand, straightening her back as she did.  “Think I’m okay.  And I will totes take you up on that piggy-back ride when we leave.”  

He smiled and slipped his arm around her waist as they walked over to the place she’d picked out on the map that morning.  Walked.  Slowly.  

“It probably kills you to have to slow down for regs like me, doesn’t it?”  

He smiled, a sort of half smile-half smirk sort of thing.  “Not for you, it doesn’t.  I don’t mind slowing down for you.”  

She felt a blush creeping up on her cheeks.   “You can’t keep saying stuff like that, Peter.”  

“Why not?  It makes you blush.  Which is mega cute.”  

“Because...it makes me not want to leave...and I definitely  _ have _ to leave.”  

He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers, releasing after a few seconds with a soft pop.  “I wish you didn’t have to…”  

She wanted to reciprocate the sentiment, but it made her have feelings.  Deep feelings stirring up in her belly and she couldn’t have those feelings.  Not for Peter.  Not for him.  

Plus, she couldn’t stay here.  She already existed here.  There was too much of a chance that she’d run into her past self and rip a hole in the entire universe.

_ Sigh...Semantics. _

She inhaled sharply and pecked his lips, reaching for the bag on her back and pulling out the binoculars.  “What time is it?”  

He cleared his throat and glanced down at his watch.  “Just after nine a.m…”  

“Great.  Her first class just started…”  She put the binoculars up to her eyes, adjusting them as she looked through the window.  She remembered the classrooms at Culver well enough.  She’d been lurking on this campus since she was old enough to toddle.  

Her heart beat loudly in her chest, her blood rushed in her head. Her eyes focused on her mother.  Fifteen years younger than she remembered her.  She looked just like she had in the photo album her dad had on the coffee table back home.  

Her breath caught in her throat.  “Oh my god…there she is…”  

Peter’s arm slipped back around her waist.  He didn’t say anything, which was probably for the best.  What was someone supposed to say in situations like this?  

Her eyes blurred with tears as she watched her mother write something on the chalkboard.  Likely some kind of story diagram.  She used to get super passionate about story diagrams.  All the circles and lines branching out to other circles.  

Darcy couldn’t quite make out what the books were that were open on the desks, but she’d bet money on a Jane Austen novel of some sort.  “I can’t see what book they’re reading.”  

She felt the air shift slightly beside her.  When she looked, Peter was there, even if the leaves were rustling like he’d just arrived.  “Northanger Abbey,” he answered the question she hadn’t really asked.  

“Northanger Abbey…” she repeated, a smile forming on her lips.  “Mom named me after the protagonist in that...well,  _ middle-named _ me…She first-named me after Mr. Darcy in Pride & Prejudice.”  

“So Darcy…” he trailed off with a shrug.  “Sorry, I’m not familiar with that book at all.”

“Darcy Catherine…” she answered.  “Mom was kind of a nut for Austen novels.  My older brother’s named Bennet. Which is Lizzie’s last name in P & P. Our pug was named Bingley.”  

He chuckled.  “I have no clue why my mom named me Peter…”  

“Is she Catholic?  It’s a pretty common one for the faith…”  

“Nah, she’s not religious.  My dad, though...my dad was Jewish.”  

“Oh?  Well, there ya go.  Maybe he picked it.”  

He snorted.  “I doubt it.  He left before I was born.”  

“Oh…” Darcy trailed off and dropped one hand down to close it around his.  “Sorry.  Put my foot in my mouth.  I’m good at that.” 

“You’ve got a brother?”  he asked.  “Older?”  

“Yeah, three years older.  He goes by Ben.  He owns a food truck.”  

“Like for hot dogs?”  

“No...more like a restaurant on wheels.  It’s a thing in the 2010s.  All the hipsters eat at organic food trucks.”  

“I’ll take your word for it…” His fingers were dragging in slow soothing circles on her lower back.  “I have a sister.  Younger.  Her name’s Amy…half-sister, actually.” 

“You guys close?”  

“Nah.  Not really.  Not since she grew up and kind of...decided I was weird.”  

Darcy lowered the binoculars for a moment.  “I’m sorry.  For what it’s worth, I don’t think you’re weird.”  

“But to be fair, you’re around people like me a lot, aren’t you,” he countered with a shrug.  

“To be fair, ‘people like you’ aren’t any different than people like me.  We’re all human.  You guys just get shit done differently.  Ain’t nothing weird about that.”  

“Anyway...she’s in college now.  Goes to Brown…”  

“Lah-dee-dah…” Darcy said, sniffing slightly, already kind of not liking someone who could write Peter out of their life like his sister seemed to.  

He was quiet for a long moment before speaking again.  “You look like her…” he offered, changing the subject.  “Your mom, I mean.”

“Ha.  I’m flattered, but nah.”  

“You do.  Around the eyes...and your hair.  And you’re both short people.”  

She smiled.  “Yeah, my Dad’s pretty tall.  I definitely didn’t inherit that from him.  I’m fun-sized for convenience.”  

“Your smile’s different though.  Your mouth.”  

“Dad traits.  Both of em.  Mom always said he had the better smile, so it was good that I got it from him.”  

His hand reached down to wrap around hers.  “You said you lost her...you never said what happened.”  

“Cancer,” she said bluntly.  “Breast cancer.  She fought it for a good five years, though...she was a trooper.”  

“I’m sorry…”  He squeezed her hand again.  “That sucks.”  

She dropped the binoculars for a moment, looking up at him with what were surely red and tear-filled eyes.  “Thank you.  It  _ did _ suck. Nobody wanted to  _ ever _ admit that.  Everyone was all.  ‘It was a miracle you had her for as long as you did…’ and i just wanted to like...scream at them, you know?  ‘Fuck you, Martha. My mom’s dead.  I’m fifteen and my mom’s dead.  This sucks and it’s not a blessing or a miracle and god didn’t need another angel, okay?  It just sucks and let’s leave it at that…” She sniffed and blinked a few times, forcing the tears back down again.  “But ya know...that’s frowned upon…” 

He slipped his arm around her waist again, tugging her closer, dipping his head to press his lips to her cheek.  “It sucks.  And I’m sorry it happened.”  

“Me too…”  She took a minute to compose herself before continuing.  “She would have liked you, I think.”  

“Really?”  

She nodded.  “My dad wouldn’t, but she would.”  

“Okay, and why wouldn’t your old man like me?”  

“Well.  For starters.  He’s a cop. So that pesky little kleptomania thing would be a dealbreaker, probably.”  

Peter snickered. “Your dad’s a cop?  Tell me...how does that make you  _ even _ hotter?  The only thing  _ actually _ hotter would be if he was a pastor or something. Or like...I dunno.  A Pastor/Cop somehow?”  

Darcy rolled her eyes and peered through the binoculars again.  “How much time do I have?”  

“As much as you want.  Maybe we’ll head out just before classes let out…”  

‘As much as she wanted’ turned out to be about five more minutes.  They weren’t really paying attention and someone tapped her on the shoulder.  

She turned around to the quizzical gaze of a much younger, but still very familiar face.  

A young, but still very Banner-esque, Bruce.  He was probably a graduate student.  And she was going to have to thwack his head when she got back to the future.       

“Excuse me, can I ask what you’re doing?” he asked, his frown deepening when he locked eyes with Peter.  “What’s with the binoculars?”  

“Time to go…” Peter turned and bent down slightly to allow her to hop on his back.  It felt strange, but she was able to duck her head when he ran this time.  He set her down right outside the movie theater back in Westchester.  

“Wanna hear something funny?” she asked.  “I knew that guy.  He’s one of the scientists I work with now.”  

“No shit?  Small world.”  

“It kind of is?”  She said with a small smile and a shrug.  

“You okay?  We don’t have to go see a movie if you’re not feeling up to it…”  Peter jutted his thumb behind him towards the theater.  

Darcy smiled.  “No, I actually want to...been kind of looking forward to it all day…”  

* * *

 

The movies were actually  _ better _ in the theater..if that was possible.

Farm Boy Westley fetched a pitcher for Buttercup.  And then proceeded to disappear.  

R.O.U.S were rampant and Inigo Montoya killed the six-fingered man.  

They didn’t talk much during the first movie, Peter was kind of enthralled and far be it for Darcy to mess up someone’s first time with  _ The Princess Bride _ .  More conversation was had during  _ Dirty Dancing _ , though.    

Baby got put in the corner, and Johnny pulled her out of it.  

“Oh my god, I used to watch this at all my sleepovers…” Darcy said, leaning over to whisper.  “I had the soundtrack.”  

“It’s a good soundtrack…” Peter admitted.  “My mom said it made her feel nostalgic.”  

“You took  _ your mom _ to see this?”  

Peter chuckled. “HA, no.  That would have been awkward.  She went and saw it with a friend of hers.”  

Darcy nodded.  “Do you ever bring your mom to the movies?”  

“I brought her to see Star Wars.”  

She grinned.  “You ever bring other girls?”  

“No, Darcy.  You’re my first one.  Ever.  Did I mention?  I’m a virgin and I’ve never kissed anyone before.”  

She rolled her eyes.  “You know what I’m fishing for, smart ass.”  

“I haven’t brought any other girls to THIS movie.  THIS movie belongs to you, Gorgeous.  This one and the other one too.”  

She didn’t want to admit how much that nickname was growing on her.  Or how much him telling her that Dirty Dancing belonged to her was doing it for her.  

“I know how this ends…” she whispered.  “Wanna sneak out?”  

“And go where?”  

“I have this thing in my room...flat, squishy, comfy...big enough for two people.  I wanna say you guys call them beds? Is that right?”  

Grinning he looked down at their clasped hands.  “You sure?  You feel up for spelunking?”  

“Dude, it’s not me who’s doing the spelunking, I think the question is...are YOU up for spelunking?”  

There was a blur of movement and suddenly they were back in her room at the mansion.  “I’m always up for spelunking.”  

Darcy took her bottom lip between her teeth, hooking her finger in the collar of his t-shirt as she led him back towards the bed.  He slipped his arms around her waist and pressed his lips against hers, effectively sweeping her off her feet and onto the bed.  

She broke off the kiss for just a moment to confess, “Okay...just a second, I have to say this, because I don’t think I said it last night...but you are hella good at kissing me…”  

Grinning, he kissed her again.  “Don’t tell me that, I’ll never stop kissing you.” 

“Maybe I don’t want you to.”  

His lips trailed down her jaw, his fingers combing back strands of her hair as he peppered kisses down her neck.  He sucked gently, right where it turned into her shoulder.  She melted back against the mattress.  

Those lips were criminal. And she was on board with whatever they wanted to do.   

Peter’s fingers played with the hem of her shirt, nudging it up far enough to expose some skin.  “Ya know...every time you lift your arms in this shirt, it scoots up? Really distracting.”  

“I could just...take it off?  Would that help with the distraction?”  

He sighed.  “Well, you know...you can try, I guess…dunno if that’ll help or not…”  

She giggled and crossed her arms over her waist, grabbing the hem of her shirt and pulling it up over her head.  She tossed it on the floor and basked in the way his eyes widened.  

“Fuckin’ A, these are nice…”  His fingers traced along the bottom shelf of her bra and she was secretly happy that she wore her nice 21st century undergarments today instead of the other bra she’d purchased at the mall.  

These were lacey.  And blue.  And had demi cups that gave her that really nice amount of cleavage.  

“Thanks?  Grew them myself…”  she said with a soft chuckle.  

He responded by tugging down on the cup of the bra and tracing his thumb over her now exposed nipple.  She sucked in a breath and clenched a handful of the comforter in her hand.  She practically quivered as he raked his thumb back and forth, flicking her stiff and apparently loving every second of it.  

He was about to lower his mouth down to her when he stopped suddenly, sitting straight up.  His eyes widened before he shut them and pressed the heels of his hands against them.  “Shit...sorry, Darce…”  

“What?”  she asked, reaching down to tug up the cup on her bra.  

“Uhhh...apparently, Jean can hear us?”  

“We’re not even doing anything yet, how fucking thin are these walls?”  

Laughing dryly, he shook his head.  “No no, nothing like that.  It’s just that...she can read minds, you know?  So can the Professor.  So we probably shouldn’t...fool around in the mansion.”  

Her eyes widened before she made a grab for her shirt.  “I didn’t even think of that.”  

“Me either, actually…”  He lay back on the bed beside her as she tugged on her shirt.  “Sorry.”  

“It’s fine…” she rolled towards him and wrapped her arm around his middle.  “We can...talk?  Or something?”

And any other guy would have rolled his eyes and complained some more.  But Peter didn’t seem to be like any other guy.  Because he rolled over to face her, smiling.  “Whatcha wanna talk about, Gorgeous?”  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on [tumblr](http://dresupi.tumblr.com/)!


	6. Let Me Be the One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter's POV again. 
> 
> Also? Peter's Mom makes an appearance at the end! YAY! 
> 
> Also, ALSO some more smutty stuff happening towards the middle of the chapter. <3 
> 
> Chapter 7 will have like...full on smut happening. No more interuptions. ;) So get ready for that tomorrow. Also, Peter's having some pretty important and big feelings in this chapter. <3 EEE. Very important feelings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More thanks for hollyspacey, who is such a lovely beta and a talented writer. And just is all around amazing.

**~ October 1, 1987 ~**

When Peter woke up the next morning, his arm was asleep.  

Mostly because it was trapped beneath Darcy, but he didn’t really want to wake her up by trying to move it.  She’d fallen asleep in mid-sentence just about. And sometime during the night she’d curled up in his arms and stayed there.  

He kind of liked it.  She snored a little.  And drooled on his shoulder.  But it wasn’t that bad in the big picture. Peter probably wasn’t a vision of grace and poise while he slept either.

He could imagine waking up with her like this on a regular basis.  It was a nice thought. Darcy in his arms every single night….  

Well... maybe they could get their own place.  If sex was ever going to happen.  

It could work.  He could get used to it.

But he _shouldn’t_ get used to it.  Because she’d be leaving in two days.  Less than that.  A day and a half.  Peter had one more night and morning with her.  And about an hour of afternoon.  

And he wasn’t going to spend it feeling sorry for himself.  He had plenty of time to do that after she left.  

Every time he thought about her leaving, it made his stomach ache.  Made his chest tighten up.  Made his hand squeeze around hers.  Or in this case, made his free arm clutch around her waist and pull her flat against him.

Which of course, only served to highlight another…problem.  

A problem that was infinitely more fun than the previous one.   

A problem which was now pressed right up against her ass and was doing nothing for his promise to Jean to keep his thoughts PG.  Especially since Darcy had shed her jeans at some point during the night, which meant there was only two very thin layers of fabric between him and her.

Because his pants definitely flew off once hers did.    

He let his head fall forward, burrowing his face into her hair as his hips pressed forward helplessly.  She felt so good, so warm and soft.  She smelled so nice...

“Awww…” she murmured, her hand closing around his. “Good morning to you too.”      

“Sorry…” he kissed her shoulder.

“I’m not…” She wriggled closer, sending bolts of arousal twisting through his veins.  He suppressed the urge to moan and rut against her. Any more than he already was.   

Thankfully, she rolled over so she could face him and hike her leg up over his hip.  Some swift maneuvering on her part.  Especially when she nudged him over on his back so she was straddling him, one knee on  either side of his hips.  Her... _heat_ centered over where...where he was practically throbbing for her.  

Jean was probably retching into her corn flakes.    

Both hands pressed against his shoulders, holding him down as if he’d ever try to move from this position if this was where she wanted him.  Trapped between her legs sounded like heaven.  

Her hair fell forward over her face, lips sliding into a half smirk as blue eyes bored into his.

“Holy shit, you are beautiful…” he murmured.  “Did you know that?”  

“Nope.  And thank _god_ you were here to tell me or I might never have--”  

“Alright, alright.  I get it.” he reached up to cup her face and coax her down to kiss him.  He rocked his hips up.  “Just took me by surprise.”

She waggled her eyebrows.  “I guess I am very surprising.”  

“You surprise the hell out of me.  Like now.  And when you electrocuted me. I’m still twitching from that…”  

She snorted out a laugh and rocked her hips over his.  “Where are you twitching? Prove it.”  

He reached up and swatted her ass lightly, taking in the way her eyes darkened, letting his hand linger and squeeze her afterwards. He nodded down towards his hand.  “See that?  That’s a helluva twitch.”  

She giggled and leaned down to kiss him again.  “I could probably make my peace with a twitch like that…  And by the way? You’re not so bad yourself, you know?  Bringing all new meaning to the term, ‘Silver Fox’.”  

He rolled his eyes.  “I’m sure...”  

She ran her fingers through his hair.  “So...is this what it looks like all over?  Or...?”  

He smirked. “Does the carpet match the drapes, you mean?”  

“That’s precisely what I mean.”  

“See...some things should remain secret until you find out on your own…” He sat up suddenly, his hands wrapping around her waist in time to catch her as she toppled backwards on the bed.  He kissed her once more and stood up, zipping over to the desk to pull on his jeans.  

Darcy stood up, walking around the bed to grab hers from the floor.  Peter would be lying if he said he wasn’t checking out her ass the entire time.  

Good goddamn, she was hot as hell.  

Those panties weren’t helping matters either.  They matched her bra.  She looked like some kind of model or something.  The cut of them really showed off her legs.  Which were just as amazing as the rest of her.  His gaze moved up her narrow waist...making him realize belatedly that she had one of those hourglass figures. Her curves went all the way.  All the way somewhere, but his brain shut down before he could figure out where.

He tore his eyes away from her, and grabbed his t-shirt and pulled it over his head.  If they were ever leaving this room, and not driving all the psychics in this mansion to gouge out their eyes, he needed to make a move in that direction.  

She walked over to the dresser and opened up the top drawer to pull out a small pile of clothes.  Some of the things she’d bought at the mall, most likely.  She shot him a quick smile and crossed the floor to her bathroom.  

She’d been given one of the non-student rooms.  It was similar to his, except he shared a john with Scott, whereas Darcy had her own.  

“It’s a shame you got dressed, you could have joined me in the shower…” She called over her shoulder.  

“You think I’d be able to keep my thoughts to myself if I’m in the shower with a hot naked _you_?  Jean’s head would explode.”  

Of course, then she poked out her bottom lip and he honestly was such a sucker for that and he didn’t even _know_ it until that moment.  

He had a sneaking suspicion he might just be a sucker for Darcy...but he pushed the thought out of his mind and concentrated instead on stripping out of his clothes again as he booked it towards the bathroom.  Jean would let him know if there was a problem.  Just like she had last night.

And he had _zero_ problems right now, because Darcy was taking off her bra and holy shit, they were nice.  Just as nice as the night before.  And then she bent at the waist and shimmied out of her panties, and his brain kind of zonked out for a while.

She slid the shower door open and backed up into the water.  He pushed down his boxers and followed her into the hot streams of water.  

“Eager much?” she asked, smirking and sliding her hands up his torso.   

He paused long enough that her hand moved down between their bodies to wrap around _him_ , causing him to rasp, “Might say the same about you…”  

“Just have to bring this up, given our conversation earlier...but…” She nipped lightly at his jaw.  “I find no carpet at _all_ on these floors, Maximoff…”  

He chuckled.  “Yeah...I...uh…shave it.  Because it _does_ match the drapes…” Darcy stroked her hand up the shaft and he let his head fall back, concentrating on her touch.  “It looked weird…”  

“Weird how?  Like...old man weird?”  

“Yeah…”     

_PETER.  SORRY TO INTERRUPT.  BUT I CAN HEAR YOU._

_-Shit, sorry...sorry...sorry Jean._

“As good as that feels…” He reached down to uncurl her fingers.  “Jean just informed me that we’re being too loud again.”  

Darcy pouted.  Which made Peter want to just ignore everything but what his body wanted to do, which was kneel down in front of her and not get up again until she was screaming his name loud enough for _everyone_ in the mansion to hear, not just those with psychic powers.

But he didn’t.  He leaned down to kiss her, and they actually ended up just showering.  Which turned out to almost be hotter than fucking her against the tiled wall.  

 _Almost._  

The thought of fucking her against a wall was still ranking pretty high on the heat index, actually.  

* * *

 

“Hey...you wanna get out of here?” he asked, tilting his head to the side as she pulled on her clothes.  

A quick glance at his watch told him it was almost ten a.m.  Definitely late enough in the day for a visit home.    

“Like nothing else I’ve ever wanted before,” she answered.  “Care to make my dreams come true, Peter?”  

He wanted nothing more than to do just that.  Unfortunately, this was the best he could offer.  “Well, it’s nothing too fancy...but I promise to have you back in time to catch your portal…”  

“And it’s not here?  And we can be alone?” she asked, tugging on her t-shirt.  

“Well...we’ll be alone in the sense that there’s privacy, and no psychics who can hear our thoughts.”  

“But we won’t be alone in the sense…” she lead.  

“That my mom will be upstairs.”  

Darcy wrinkled her nose before nodding.  “She won’t be like...banging a broom handle against the floor, will she?  Telling us to keep it down?”  

Peter rolled his eyes.  “Nope.  And besides.  I’ve got that basement pretty sound proofed.”  

“Ew…you bring many girls back into your creepy soundproof sex lair?”  

“It’s not for sex, perv.  It’s for music.  I soundproofed it so I could turn it up as loud as I wanted.”  

“But it’s going to come in handy for sex?”  

“Absolutely.”  He grinned widely and she returned the expression, reaching for her shoes and sliding them on before she grabbed his hand.  

“Take me there.”  

* * *

 

They arrived on his mom’s front porch a few seconds later.  

He was about to open the door when she stopped him.  “Wait.”  

“What?”  

“Dude...am I about to meet your mom?”  

He smiled. “Yeah...unless you don’t want to?”  

“No, I want to…”  

“Okay…” he chuckled softly, reaching for her hand and squeezing it.  “She’s gonna love you.”  

“Think so?”  

“Definitely.”  He had to bite his tongue hard.  Really hard.  Because what had almost slipped out was not something you said to someone who you had just met a few days before.  

He reached for the doorknob again, opening the door and knocking slightly on the door as he opened it.  “Mom?”  

“Peter?”  

He ducked into the entryway, his hand trailing behind him as Darcy shut the door.  

She was holding a plate in one hand, a dishtowel in the other, a dazed expression on her face.  “Peter, is that you?”  

“Yeah, Mom...you okay?  You bump your head or somethin’?”  

She closed her eyes for a moment before responding.  “I’m fine.  Sorry.  You just startled me…” Her gaze drifted behind him.  “And this must be…” she trailed off before speaking again.  “A new friend?”  

Peter frowned.  “Um...yeah.  This is Darcy…Darcy?” He turned back towards Darcy, tugging her forward.  “This is my Mom…”  

She smiled, holding her hand out in front of her.  “Ms.  Maximoff…”  

“Maggie,” his mom corrected her with a smile.  “I”m happy to meet you.”  She kept looking between them with this strange look and it was making Peter a little ansty.  

“Sorry to come over without calling first…” He pulled his goggles up on his head.  “Needed a break from the mansion…”  

“Oh, is Darcy…” she trailed off.  “You met her at the school?”  

“I’m not a mutant…” Darcy supplied.  “Just...a traveller.”  

“Yeah...she’s...uh...going home tomorrow afternoon.  Just wanted to check and make sure if it was cool if we crashed here tonight?”  

Mom nodded, a wide smile on her face.  “Of course, honey.  Your room’s the way you left it.”  

Peter leaned forward and kissed her cheek.  “Is Amy coming home this weekend?”  

She looked really sad all of the sudden. “She isn’t...I can call her if you’d like?”  

He shook his head.  “Nah.  I’ll see her next time she comes home…”

“Maybe you could give her a call?  You haven’t seen her in a while…”  

Peter snorted.  “Right.  I’m sure she wants her ‘weird’ brother to interrupt her normal college experience.”    

“Peter…you really should.  You know.  Call her sometime.  She does love you.”  

He chuckled.  “I know.  But she loves me better when I leave her alone.”  

Darcy tightened her hand around his and he smiled back at her, leading her into the kitchen.  “Why don’t you sit down with Darcy, Mom? I’ll take care of that…”  

He made sure they were both sitting before he laid into the dishes.  There weren’t many, what with Mom living mostly alone now.  

Thing was?  She didn’t seem to mind it all that much.  Probably something about having to put up with two kids, one of them a mutant, and all their resulting shenanigans for the better part of thirty years.  It was part of the reason he stayed at the mansion now.

The dishes were drying in the rack in the sink when he turned back around.  Of course, it had only been a few seconds, so not much talking had happened yet.  “Want some coffee?”  

“I’d love some,” Darcy said quickly, staring up at him with wide scared eyes.  

He didn’t know why she was so nervous.  He could tell his mom already liked her.  Looking at her with stars in her eyes.  Stars that on closer inspection likely took the form of future grandchildren.  

It was too bad really.  Because he could possibly see something like that with Darcy.  If she wasn’t from thirty years in the future and going back to her time in less than 24 hours.  He could kind of see what his mom was hoping for.  But like hell he was going to start hoping for it too.  

It didn’t take a rocket scientist to see that he’d already kind of lost that battle.  

He’d lost that battle before he even knew he was fighting it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on [tumblr](http://dresupi.tumblr.com/)! <3


	7. Hungry Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So many things happen in this chapter, but I want to take this opportunity to point out the new tag I added. There ARE going to be Logan Spoilers forthcoming in chapter 8 if you haven't seen that movie yet, I apologize. :/ 
> 
> Okay, so in THIS chapter (chapter 7), there is smut, including inappropriate use of mutant powers. (Looking at YOU, Peter...) There are major life decisions being made. There is the beginning of a happy ending, (and I'm not even talking about the smut, ha!). And at the beginning, you get a glimpse of exactly what Darcy will be fixing. All will be explained tomorrow, I promise! <3 
> 
> There are two more chapters to go, with Chapter 8 being the behemoth beast that ties most everything together and Chapter 9 being a short little Epilogue that kind of answers one last question and introduces the rest of the series. <3 I really hope you guys are enjoying my little fic! <3 It's almost over! <3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to Hollyspacey! <3 <3 <3

**~ May 3, 2017 ~**

Jane wasn’t sleeping.  She was squinting at her phone screen and reading through some of the documents Tony had scrounged up for her after she’d pumped him full of coffee and promised to name her first born child after him.  

_ Transigen.   _

That was the word that was all over the documents.  They dated back to the early nineties.

She wasn’t sure what it was, because most of the information was blacked out.  She knew it had something to do with the X-Gene, so everything to do with the mutants.  But that was all.

She had a word, though.  Something she could ask Hank about.  

* * *

 

**~October 1, 1987 ~**

**~ Darcy ~**

Peter’s mom was nice.  So very nice.  So very fucking nice.  

And hopeful. All she wanted was for her boy to be happy.   

Darcy could see it in her eyes and it hurt to look at her.  Because Darcy wanted  _ so badly _ to give her what she wanted.  

Because it was what  _ she _ wanted too.  

She didn’t know where she’d gone wrong this week.  She’d gone from zero feelings about Peter to wanting to ask him to come back with her.    

And honestly, she thought she could see it in his face too.  The way he looked at her, the way he was constantly holding her hand, stroking the back of it, leaning over to tuck stray strands of hair behind her ear.  

She thought his mom was going to melt into a puddle on the floor when he did that.  

“Where are you from, Darcy?” Maggie asked, dragging her spoon over the rim of her empty coffee cup. 

Darcy knew the question was liable to be asked.  She just wasn’t expecting it. “Manhattan…” she answered, looking down at her spoon..  

“Oh, that’s not that far!” 

“It’s a little more complicated than that, Mom…” Peter interjected, saving her from a more detailed explanation.  

Maggie dropped the subject for the moment, and they finished their coffee with some small talk.  Given that they couldn’t even chew the fat about the weather, it was the smallest talk ever.  Micro talk.  

Micro talk with this big elephant looming in the air over top of them.  And the elephant’s name was Monsieur Why-aren’t-you-in-love-with-my-son-look-at-him-he’s-over-the-moon-for-you.  

So Darcy had to sit there and bite her tongue.  Hold back the second elephant called Madame ‘I-could-be-in-love-with-your-son-he’s-amazing-and-wearing-a-shirt-made-out-of-boyfriend-material-but-I’m-from-thirty-years-in-the-future-I’m-so-sorry neé please-don’t-hate-me-you’re-so-nice’. 

The elephants here had some really long-ass names. 

The only thing that was keeping her from blurting it all out was Peter’s hand on hers, his thumb stroking the back of her hand and squeezing right when she needed him to.  

She really, REALLY wanted to ask him to come back with her, okay?  But she couldn’t ask him to do that.  Nope.  Couldn’t.  

Finally, FINALLY, he took the cups back to the sink, washing them in a blur of motion and leaving them in the drying rack with a clatter of porcelain.  “Listen, Darce?  My room’s in the basement, if you want to head down there…” he pointed her towards the door in the hallway.  “I’ll be right down, okay?”  

She nodded, pressing her lips together, and walking towards the door.  She had pretty much resolved herself in the last thirty seconds to at least  _ ask _ him. She owed it to herself to ask.  If she didn’t, she’d always wonder what he would have said.    

“The door’s warped, so it takes a little force to close it,” he called after her.  

* * *

 

**~ Peter ~**

“You’re going to go back with her, aren’t you?”  His Mom had this uncanny ability to cut right to the chase.  It was actually kind of annoying.    

“What?  No, Mom.”  Peter shook his head, even as he was trying to plan a way to do just that.  “I couldn’t leave you like that…”  

“Peter...I can’t tell you how I know this...but I  _ know _ .”  

“You know what?”  

“I know that she’s from the future.  And…” she trailed off at the look on his face. 

“How do you know that?”  He frowned.  

She shook her head and reached for him, pulling him close for a hug.  “I can’t tell you, baby.  But I know.  

“That makes no sense.  How did you know?  Mom? Is something going on that I should know about?”  

“You’ll know soon enough...now let me…” She sighed heavily and let go of him.  “Just let me say my piece and then you can go off and make your own decisions...but I think...if you are straddling the fence on this...you should seriously consider going back with her.”  

She was crazy.  She might have  _ actually _ hit her head.  “I wouldn’t  _ see you _ for thirty years.”  

She waved that off like she wasn’t worried at all.  “Don’t worry about that.” She raised her eyebrows in that way she had.  The one that told him he needed to keep digging because he didn’t know everything yet.  He got that look a lot.  He tended to jump to conclusions.  “Peter.  You’ve brought quite a few girls back here.  Snuck in even more...and I don’t think any of them have been like her.”  

He  _ had _ to smile at that. She was right, after all.  “There’s no one else like Darcy,” he agreed.  

“See?”  She reached out and rubbed his shoulder.  “If she makes you happy, if you care about her?  You should think about going.”  

“I’ve only known her for a week,” he argued lamely.    

“So?  I’ve never known you to drag your feet about anything...well...except one thing.”  She gave him a knowing look that had universally come to be known as the ‘ _ your dad _ ’ look.  

“I...I don’t know if she’d be cool with that.  It’d be a huge imposition…”  

“Well.  Maybe you should ask her before you make that decision for the both of you?”  

He leaned forward, wrapping his arms around his mom.  Something he hadn’t done without being prompted in a while.  In too long.  “Okay, I will.” 

“Good.  Now listen...I have a Tupperware party this evening, and a few errands to run today...I’ll probably be home around eight or so tonight?”  She grabbed her purse.  “I’ll leave you some cash for a pizza, okay?”  

“Mom…you don’t have to worry about it, okay?”  He pressed the money back into her hand.  “Just like...go buy something at your Tupperware party.”

She tilted her head and reached out to ruffle his hair.  “I want you to really think hard about this, Peter.  I want you to be happy...okay?”  

“I will, Mom.”  His gaze moved around the room, trying to make sure he hadn’t forgotten anything.  His gaze settled on the fridge.  Where a crayon drawing of what looked like a horse with rainbow wings was flying through the clouds.  It was signed.  ‘From Violet’.  He frowned.  “Mom?  Who’s Violet?  She a neighbor kid?”  

And he could have  _ sworn _ all the color drained from her face as she snatched the drawing from the fridge, folding it in half and stuffing it into her purse.  “Yes.  Yes.  A neighbor kid.”  

His mom was acting totally weird.  

* * *

 

**~ Darcy ~**

Darcy’s heart was fluttering like crazy when Peter zipped down the stairs to join her.  He wasn’t kidding about the door being difficult to close.  But she didn’t want to sit there and wrestle with it forever, so here she was...having unwillingly eavesdropped on what turned out to be a very eye-opening conversation.  

He was going to  _ talk _ to her?  About...about  _ coming back _ with her. Back to the future.

She was sitting on a couch.  A sofa.  A hide-a-bed.  Having a mini-meltdown because the guy she had  _ feelings _ for was willing to time travel thirty years into his future for  _ her. _

Holy shit.  

Peter appeared on the couch beside her, leaning over to press a kiss to her cheek.  “Did you miss me?”  

“Kind of...yeah…”  She leaned over and reached for him, one hand settling on his stomach and the other on his head.  Running her fingers through his silver hair.  “Did you always have this? Or did this come with your powers?” 

She could feel herself shaking.  Or was that him?  

This was big, huge stuff and they were talking about his hair.  Avoidance much? 

“With my powers.  It was actually more white at the beginning?  But now it’s...this.”  He shrugged and reached up to cover her hand, pull it down to clasp in his.  “You cool with hanging around here today?”  

She nodded.  “Absolutely.”

“Wanna watch T.V...or???”  

“I was kind of eyeing that Ms. Pac Man over there…” she jutted her head over her shoulder.  “Does it work?”  

“Does it work…” he chuckled.  “It works fine, but I have to warn you...you won’t be getting any high scores...I’m  _ kind _ of the best.”  

She snorted.  “Dude, you haven’t met  _ me  _ before this week, so I’ll let you off the hook for that one.”  

* * *

 

**~ Peter ~**

After what felt like countless game overs and screeching on Darcy’s part, because she was  _ ten points _ from getting on the high score list, but a wrong turn led her into a ghost and used up her last life, Peter sunk down onto the floor with her and kissed her.  Hard.  Because she wasn’t kidding when she said she was good.  

She was arguably better than him, in technical skill.  Since he had the advantage of super reflexes and an arcade game to practice on in his room.  He’d happily concede his title.  

“If this was Super Mario Bros, I’d be wiping the FLOOR with you, Maximoff,” she insisted, holding out her hand limply towards him.  “Joysticks aggravate my carpal tunnel.”

“I actually HAVE a Nintendo.  If you want to put your money where your mouth is.” He took her hand and rubbed the back of it with his thumbs.  Slow circles.  Painfully slow circles.    

“I could put  _ you _ where my mouth is…” she teased, leaning over closer.  Her breath felt hot on his face as he tilted his head, closing his eyes and practically moaning into her mouth when she kissed him.  Her tongue flicked between his lips as she shifted closer to him.  She yanked her hand away so her fingers could play with the hem of his t-shirt.  “I wouldn’t mind putting  _ other _ parts of you where my mouth is…”  

Okay.  Yeah.  That was it.  His brain exploded.  Just...boom. Crash.  Brains everywhere.  

“Darcy…” he whispered, taking her bottom lip between his teeth.  Thoughts of her lips and tongue sliding over very specific parts of him were cascading through his mind and making it very difficult to focus on what he came down here to do.  To say.  

He wanted to say it before mouths were put on parts or anything else like that happened.  

Peter slid his hand up to cup the back of her head before breaking off the kiss. “Darcy…” he murmured, brushing her hair out of her face.  “Darcy...when is that portal opening again?”  

Okay.  So it wasn’t the BEST way to broach the topic.  Because he knew when the portal was opening.  He knew.  He had a little more than twenty-four hours.  

“Tomorrow…” she whispered.  “One-seventeen p.m....”  

It was now or never. He had to know if this was the last time he’d see her.  If these hours were the last ones.  

“So like...In your time?  You think I’d fit in? I mean…I live in a mutant school here…can’t be much worse, right?” He made this sound that he regretted making the second it passed through his lips.  Something like an awkward dry laugh, but somehow more awkward? A cough? A quiet choke?

Certainly felt like he was choking.

Her hand stilled in his hair.  “You want to come with me?”  

“Yeah…” he nodded, swallowing back the fear that was urging him to laugh it off.  

“I was wondering when you were gonna bring that up…” she said with a small smirk.  “I have to confess...I kind of overheard you talking to your Mom...couldn’t get the door closed...and…” she pressed her lips together.  “I’d love for you to come with me, Peter…”  

His heart soared.  He was pretty sure that’s what that feeling was.  He wanted to jump up and down.  And run around the room.  

“But, like...if you did?  It would be for  _ good _ .  I don’t know if they’d be able to send you back..." 

He shrugged.  “Okay. Maybe I don’t wanna come back.”  

Her eyes widened.  “Are you…are you sure?  We’ve only known each for other a week. Are you  _ sure _ this isn’t just you wanting to get in my pants?  Because...I mean...you  _ can _ get in my pants, I promise.  We have like...twenty-eight hours and you’re super speedy.  I bet you could get in them multiple times before I have to leave...”  

He kissed her.  Full-on, lips parted, completely desperate, kissed her.  “That’s not the only thing I want.  Promise.  In fact...we can just...put that off until...indefinitely, if you want.  If you need convincing?”     

Blinking repeatedly, she reached for his hands. “You’d be thirty years behind on everything.  You’d miss...you’re gonna miss a  _ bunch _ of stuff.”

“And if I didn’t go with you...I’d miss  _ you _ . Plus, I mean -- I…” He looked down.  “You said I don’t ever meet you.  That you’ve never seen me before now…” he shook his head.  “I can’t  _ not _ find out what this is.”

“It’s not fair though…” she countered.  

“What isn’t?”  

“You...you giving up everything to come with me...I can’t offer you the same...I mean, I can offer, but you know I can’t do it…”  

“Your present doesn’t have a ‘me’.  My present has a ‘you’.  That’s a no-brainer, Darcy.  Can’t have two of you here.”  

“But...you’re giving up everything.  What if…” she trailed off.  “What if it’s not worth it?”  

“It’s worth it.  No matter what happens, it’s worth it.”     

He was smiling.  Couldn’t help it.  Not really. Not when they were finally talking about the thing that he’d been mulling over for the better part of two days.  Ever since he’d kissed her and she’d kissed him back.  Ever since she’d made him feel like the greatest guy she’d ever met.  Him.  The greatest at anything that wasn’t running.  

It was crazy and he knew it.  But he couldn’t imagine his life without her in it.   

“But…” Her voice was lower, raspier. Thicker. “I dunno if you know this?  But I snore.  And drool in my sleep.  It’s gross.”  

He snickered.  “It’s not  _ that _ gross.”

“I think you’re just jealous of my iPhone,” she teased.    

“Yeah, you caught me.  I don’t love  _ you _ at all, I just want an iPhone.”

Her eyebrows shot up.  “Whoa, wait a minute.  You  _ love _ me?”  

Peter snorted. “NO. I just said I didn’t.  It’s totally the iPhone.”  

“Well.  I don’t love you either,” she returned with just a hint of haughtiness. “I’m just here for the sex and Ms. Pac Man.”

Laughing, he scooted down a little so his head was level with hers. “Okay, fair enough, but we haven’t actually  _ had _ sex.”  

Not for lack of trying.

She swatted his shoulder playfully. “Right?  You’ve yet to put out, so I mean.  You  _ have _ to come back with me.” 

“Ah, but see...what if I’m no good at it?  You really should try it before you buy it, Darce…”  

She glanced up at the ceiling.  “Isn’t your mom up there?”  

“She’s going out for the day...and most of the evening…and the basement door locks...” He tilted his head.  “I can pull out the hide-a-bed if you don’t want to do it on the couch…”  

“Oh wow, that’s so  _ romantic _ …” She grinned.  “But I honestly think the Ms. Pac-Man machine would be more comfortable…”    

He straightened up. “Oh really?”  

* * *

 

**~ Darcy ~**

And that’s how Darcy found herself buck-ass-nude, balancing on the controls (to the far right of the joystick, thank you very much…) of the Ms. Pac Man machine, while Peter kissed his way down her body.  

It was too tall for any actual sex to happen, but what  _ was _ happening was completely fine with her.  

He smirked up at her before swirling his tongue around her belly button. “This okay?”  

She nodded, aware that her ass was pressing buttons, but not really caring in slightest.  Because those lips -- those lips that should be illegal -- were on the move again.  Further south.  

And holy fuck, yes.  

He spread her thighs and practically dove between them.  No pretense.  This was obviously what he was here for.  

He licked along her slit and squared his shoulders so she could drape her legs over them.  

And as it turned out?  If his lips were criminal, his tongue was a boss.  

Fuck, his tongue was  _ her _ boss.  From now on.  Her boss.  Whatever his tongue wanted? It was getting it.  In spades.  

Because holy shit.  He could use it.   _ Really _ well.  

He dipped it into her core for only an instant, wriggling it around before he moved up slightly to focus on her clit.  He swirled the tip around the bundle of nerves, clockwise, counter-clockwise, clockwise again...she couldn’t really tell because she was well on her way to being blissed out.  

She was going to totally call him on this later, but she could SWEAR he was using his super speed to do... _ something.   _ She wasn’t sure what it was, but it was working.    

_ Vibrating. _

He was vibrating his tongue against her clit and she was on the very edge of coming and it hadn’t even been two minutes yet.  

“Wait…” she murmured.  

He stopped, looking up at her with these big brown eyes, all innocent and acting like he wasn’t performing impossible miracles between her legs a few seconds before.  

“Are you doing  _ something _ with your tongue?”  

He winked.  “Picked up on that, did ya?  What gave it away?”   

She raised her eyebrows and shot him her best ‘look’.  “Are you using your super-powers on me?  I have a right to know.”  

“Maybe a little?  If you don’t like it, I’ll stop…”  

“No, I like it...I’m just...close already.”  

He looked genuinely surprised.  “Whoa. Really? You hard up or something?”

“Geez, I dunno.  Maybe it was all the false starts this week...”  

“This was no false start.  On my end, anyway.  I’m here with you, Gorgeous.”  He winked.  “Now, can I?  Or do you want me to stop again?”  

She pulled him back down and nearly yelped when his tongue touched her.  Definitely vibrating.  Definitely mind blowing.  

Definitely something she could get used to.  

“Fuck…” She gripped his hair, hoping to Thor she wasn’t hurting him.  He grunted against her, his tongue speeding up just slightly.  Just enough to have her nerves singing as she toppled over the edge.  His name a constant prayer (or swear, she wasn’t sure) on her lips.  

He licked his lips and kissed his way back up.  Lingering for a moment, he pressed a kiss to her quivering belly as he reached down to unbuckle his belt.  

“This still okay?” he asked.  

She nodded and gasped when her back hit the wall.  Not hard, though.  Almost feather light.  

He had one arm around her waist and his other hand was busy lining himself up.  “Still okay?”  

“Jesus, Peter...just...fuck me, please…”  

He stepped forward, working her down onto his cock, filling her slowly as he sucked a mark on her neck to stifle his groan.  

After that, he was surprisingly slow.  He supported her hips with his hands, thrusting into her slowly as she braced herself against the wall behind her.  

It took her a short time to realize that while he’d zipped them over here rather quickly, he still didn’t have his pants off the whole way, they were down around his knees, which would have made her laugh, if he wasn’t so perfectly hitting her sometimes elusive g-spot with every thrust.  

It really was difficult to laugh when one was still technically in the throes of ecstasy while even more throes were on the horizon. So many throes.  

When she came this time, it was softer, more subdued.  She could watch him as it was happening, watch his face as her walls squeezed him.  

He started speeding up towards the end, biting down on his lip as he quickly pulled out, sliding up through her folds and finding his release there...on her belly and even a little on her breasts.

He wasn’t panting, wasn’t even breathing particularly hard, but he still looked sufficiently wrecked, so Darcy let it slide.  

“Sorry...I usually last longer than that…also, sorry about the mess…”  He glanced down at her stomach.  “Wasn’t sure about birth control?  I didn’t want to like…I dunno…”  

“I have a shot that I take every month...kind of...the cadillac of birth control…” she shrugged.  “Just for future reference.”  

He nodded.  “Good to know…”  

“Also, for present reference...my back’s kind of--”  

That was the only thing she got out, because she found herself on the couch in a split second. She was totally getting used to the zipping around.  

He even cleaned her up.  What a fucking gentleman.  

“You still want to come back with me?” she asked, tugging on his arm so he collapsed on the sofa beside her.  

“Do you still want me to?”  

“Yeah... I kinda wanna  _ keep _ you…” she confessed, a smirk forming there on the corner of her mouth.  

“Well, that’s good.  ‘Cause, I kinda want you to keep me...”  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on [tumblr](http://dresupi.tumblr.com/), if that's your thing! <3


	8. I'm Your Man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yayyyyyyy! We're finally here! 
> 
> I hope everything makes sense. This chapter was kind of a beast. And it was when I finally realized that I needed to make this into a series. 
> 
> Just a reminder that there are **SPOILERS** for Logan. 
> 
> There is one more chapter, but it's sort of a mini, just a short epilogue. But thanks so much for reading! <3 <3 <3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hollyspacey is the best, y'all. <3 <3 <3 
> 
> I'm kind of flying fast and loose with the genetic sciencey stuff in this chapter. Just squint and move on. :P It's my lame little attempt at a fixit for some of the things that happened in Logan. <3

**~ May 3, 2017 ~**

**~ Jane ~**

Jane pulled her hair back into a ponytail, wrapping a rubber band she’d found in the deep recesses of her desk drawer back at Stark Tower around it.  It was one of the only things that she brought with her when F.R.I.D.A.Y informed her that the quinjet was ready.  

Darcy would flip out if she saw her doing this.  That girl always seemed to have one or two hair bands wound around her wrist at any given moment. Unfortunately, all Jane had around hers was this rubber band. 

She supposed she could start keeping some in her desk.  

There were a lot of things she could do to make Darcy’s life easier.  And she supposed one of them would be to support whatever decision she made concerning her professional life.  

Sighing, she glanced over at Bruce and Tony, who were inputting their new figures into the program for the time and matter manipulator.  

It had taken a dozen SHIELD interns and some help from Magneto to get this apparatus set up at Xavier’s mansion on time.  

And Jane knew it wasn’t just the lack of sleep that was making her side eye how quickly Dr. Xavier had okayed their little field trip.  Especially given his knowledge on the topic.  

There was something going on here that she didn’t know about, something to do with Transigen and mutants and she intended to get Hank to tell her.  

Because if Xavier knew anything, Hank knew it too. 

And if Darcy was in any danger at all because of that man’s agenda, she was going to raise hell.  At this point, she’d have rather Darcy be sent back in time to save an eccentric old man’s prize vase, rather than being mixed up with whatever Transigen was.  

As luck would have it, Hank was crossing the lab at that precise moment, walking over towards her.  She stood from stool she’d been perched upon to meet him halfway.  

“Everything’s pretty much set up…” he said, double checking the tablet in his hand.  

“So...I have a question…” Jane crossed her arms over her middle.  “You were here in ‘87, right?”  

“Here?”  

“Right.  Here at the mansion.  With Xavier.  Working at the school.”  

His gaze dropped down to the tablet.  “I moved around a lot.”  

“Bull.  You knew Darcy from before, didn’t you?”  

Hank sighed heavily.  “Jane…”  

“Jane nothing.  It’s Dr. Foster if you can’t be bothered to share an important piece of information with me.  You pretended to know nothing.  You let me worry about Darcy when you knew all along what was happening.”  

“I couldn’t tell you, Jane.  I…was under strict orders not to tamper with the experiment in any way.  You don’t understand--”

With a haughty sniff, she continued, “I did some digging, you know.  I know about Transigen.”  

She could tell by the sharp inhale that she’d hit on something.  “How did you find--”  

“I wasn’t sleeping.  I was catching up on a little reading…” She pulled out her tablet, swiping around on the screen to show him the documents Tony had found.  “Now, I know there’s not much here.  But we found these in your databases.  And they were looked at the most recently...so am I correct in my assumption that this is why your professor wanted Darcy to go back through the portal?”

“The future of our kind depends upon this loop completing its cycle.”  

“What?”  Jane paused for a moment.  “The future of...mutantkind? Or humankind?”  

“Both...eventually…”  Hank sat down in a stool.  “You might as well know now...Transigen is orchestrating an X-Gene suppression project…”  

“X-Gene suppression...how would someone…”  

“Through the food.  It started in the mid-nineties.  Genetically modified corn stalks...anyway, it suppresses the transference of the x-gene from parents to children...”  

Jane’s mind raced with reasons WHY someone would want to do something like that.  

_ Suppression is a means of control. _

“They want to control the mutant population.”  

“Exactly.  Well.  We’ve stopped the production of the corn, and thus, weakened its effectiveness.  But, we need untainted x-genes to reverse the effects.”  

“And  _ Darcy _ is somehow going to provide you with that?”  She didn’t really understand how her lab assistant factored into all of this.    

“Darcy is going to bring someone with her who can provide us with that.”  

“ _ Darcy’s _ bringing someone through the portal with her?”  

Hank nodded. “Peter Maximoff.  Quicksilver.  He left with her through the portal in 1987, and thus, never ate any of the contaminated food.”  

“So you used Darcy as  _ bait _ to get this guy to come through the portal,” Jane deduced.  None too happily, mind you.  She wasn’t thrilled with her best friend being used like some kind of a carrot on a stick to convince some guy to follow her through the portal.   

“Not at all, Dr. Foster,”  Dr. Xavier spoke up from behind them.  “Darcy and Peter were destined to find one another.  It’s just a lucky coincidence that he’s the key to our salvation.”

Jane jumped, her hand clutching at her collar.  Perhaps that fourth cup of coffee had been a little bit of overkill.    She collected herself before responding.  “And no one else could have convinced him to come through the portal?  Hank?  Or  _ Logan _ couldn’t have--”  

Hank snorted.  “Peter wouldn’t trust Logan as far as he could throw him. Which, with that adamantium skeleton  _ isn’t _ far.”

“Plus, Logan couldn’t have gone back to 1987, he was already there at the school, assisting with X-Men training,” Xavier reminded her.   

“Okay...so how did Darcy convince Peter to--”  

Hank pursed his lips and looked down at his hands.  “Well…” 

Dr. Xavier answered for him. “Darcy and Peter had somewhat of a whirlwind romance during the week she stayed here…”  

“Ah…” Jane pressed her lips together.  “Good...good for her.”  

* * *

 

**~ October 2, 1987/May 3, 2017 ~**

**~ Darcy ~**

Darcy clasped his hand as the purple portal opened in front of them.  “Ready?”  

“As I’ll ever be…” He grinned and they took a step forward into the purple swirl.  

He’d said goodbye to his mother back there.  Hugged her long and tight and then Maggie Maximoff had turned to Darcy and done the same.  

Hugged her and whispered how happy she was for them in her ear.  Like she knew more about it than Darcy did.  Or something.  

Maybe it was just a Mom thing.  Mom-intuition.    

Darcy shivered as they stepped in. The portal itself still felt the same.  Like hot ants or bees.  She still wasn’t completely sure..  It was so fucking weird, but slightly better because Peter had her hand as they walked.  She’d instructed him not to zip, but not to stop either.  No matter how weird it felt, just keep walking.  

Soon enough, they stepped out onto solid ground, very obviously in the lab at the mansion.  But Jane and Bruce and Tony and Big-Blue-Hank were here.  

“Anyone got the time?” Darcy asked, looking down at her watch.  “Because I could have sworn that was longer than seven minutes…”  

Everyone laughed, all except for Jane, who barreled forward, her arms wrapping around Darcy’s shoulders and wrenching her from Peter’s grip.  

“I’m so glad you’re okay, Darce…”  

“Peter?” Darcy craned her head over her friend’s.  “This is Jane.”  

He grinned.  “Hi Jane…” He pointed to himself almost uncertainly.  “I’m Peter...Darcy’s told me a lot about you…”  

“Peter…” Jane stuck her hand out, but didn’t let go of Darcy.  

He was soon whisked away by Dr. McCoy, however.  But she supposed she’d technically taken him away from his mutant buddies for thirty years, so she could chill and let them have him.  For now.  If she had to wait too long, she was marching over there to take him back.  

But for now, she was with Jane.  With a side of Bruce and Tony hovering around and checking her vitals and miscellaneous other sciencey things. 

“How was it?” Bruce asked, his voice barely a whisper so Jane wouldn’t hear him and clock him in the back of the head like she’d done with Tony when he’d asked a similar question.  

Darcy grinned.  “Pretty cool, actually. I went to a mall.  Got an Orange Julius.  Saw YOU at Culver…”  

And she knew as soon as she said it that she shouldn’t have.  

Realization crossed his face.  “YOU WENT TO CULVER?”  He was whispering, but she was pretty sure the whisper would have been in all-caps if it were written.  

She looked down at her hands.  “Only a little.”  

He sighed heavily.  “Darcy...Jane and I went over this with you…”  

“Back when you thought I’d somehow fuck up the time space continuum in seven minutes.  Yeah.  I remember, dude. And then.  You know.  YOU GUYS fucked everything up.”  

Bruce at least had the good grace not to argue with her.  “Yeah...sorry about that.”  

“Eh.  I’m not mad.  It worked out pretty well for me…” 

He chuckled.  “Yes, I suppose so.  How did you two meet?”  He jutted his chin over in Peter’s direction. 

“I tazed him.”  

“Of course you did.”  

Darcy sat there thoughtfully for a few moments as Bruce got ready to draw some of her blood.  “So...do you remember me? From Culver?”  

“Not you specifically, I remember the incident, but it was more of a passing annoyance rather than something that stuck with me.”  

“Do you remember my mom?”  

Bruce paused for a moment, his hand shaking a little with the needle before he answered.  “I never had the opportunity to meet her.  I know she was widely revered amongst her peers, however.  I’m going to stick you on three, okay?”

Darcy nodded, swallowing the lump in her throat as she prepared for the needle.  

* * *

 

**~ Peter ~**

Peter glanced around the room, a little bit overwhelmed by everything that was happening.  One minute, he’d been walking through a portal, ready to start a new life thirty years in the future with the woman he loved, and the next, he was the only mutant alive who could save the mutant race.  

Talk about big deals.  

“So...what do you need from me?” he asked, noting how everyone in the room sighed with relief.  

“A blood sample,” Hank replied.  

Peter rolled up his sleeve.  “Okay, so take it.  And then I can go?”  

There was a wave of affirmation all around him, so he zipped over to the exam table, hopping up on the stainless steel surface and holding out his arm.  

“I  _ will _ need to do a short physical on you, just to make sure the time travel didn’t change anything…”  

“How short is short?” Peter asked, craning his neck so he could see Darcy across the lab with her scientists.  Looked like she was getting blood drawn too.  

“About thirty minutes?”  

“Yeah, okay…” he agreed, not taking his eyes off Darcy. “So...is everyone still around?”  

“For the most part, some of us tend to move around a lot…” Hank replied.    

Peter nodded.  “Nobody knew I was coming today, did they?”  

“We didn’t tell them, we assumed you’d like a while to adjust before you met up with everyone again.”  

“What about…” he looked around the room again, still seeing only Dr. Xavier and Hank.  “What about...Magneto?”  

“He’s here.  In the mansion.  Would you like to speak with him?”  

Peter shook his head.  “Nah.” 

It just wasn’t the time. He had other things on his mind rather than the nearness of his deadbeat dad.  In short, he was curious about how his coming here to the future had affected...whatever else.   

Just from context clues, he’d begun to pick up a few of the loose ends and tie them off himself, but there was still one he needed to hear from Hank.  Or Dr. Xavier. 

“Yes, Peter,” the Professor answered his unasked question, rolling over to sit in front of him.  “You never met Darcy in her present because you were destined to travel forward with her from her past.  It’s all very confusing I know, but suffice it to say, you disappeared for thirty years because you travelled forward in time.”  

“Cool...so...I didn’t mess up anything?”  

“On the contrary.  You’ve fixed it.”  

Peter chuckled.  “Whoa.  Heavy.”  

* * *

 

**~ Darcy ~**

She didn’t meet up with Peter again until later that night. Much, much later.  He zipped out beside her when they were waiting for the quinjet to take them back to Manhattan.  

“Hey there, Gorgeous...missed ya.”  

“Missed you too...are you -- we never really discussed sleeping arrangements, did we?”  Darcy asked.  

“Well, I was hoping I could crash at your place...seeing as Xavier went and gave my room away.”  He clucked his tongue.  “Talk about rude.”  

“The nerve…”  

He ran his hand through his hair. “Is that...is that okay?  Me crashing with you?”  

“That is MORE than okay,” Darcy said with a giggle.  “Besides...I was kinda hoping to show you the absolutely humongous shower I have in my room. There are three sprayers.”  

He whistled. “Three? Wow.  And here I was slumming it with one for most of my life…I do have one question though…”  

“What’s that?”  

“Is your apartment in a building where known telepaths also live?”  

“No, actually.  However, there IS a meddlesome A.I.  But you can ask her to go into privacy mode and she’ll leave you alone.”  

“Good.  That’s good, because...I was hoping to get in a little spelunking tonight.  You know...seeing as we haven’t had sex in thirty years.”  

Darcy rolled her eyes and laughed.  “Tell  _ that _ to my hickeys.”     
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on [tumblr](http://dresupi.tumblr.com/)!


	9. Epilogue:  Coming Up Violets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And here's the epilogue! A little early, but I was impatient! <3 
> 
> I'm so glad y'all liked this! <3 <3 <3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Super big thanks to Hollyspacey!

**Sometime in 2023...**

“Violet!”  Peter reached out and grabbed the girl’s collar just as the portal opened around them.  

He glanced down at the squirming little six-year-old and shook his head.  “You just about landed yourself with the dinosaurs or something.”  

She rolled her eyes.  Her beautiful blue eyes that looked so much like Darcy’s.  “ _Dad_...that wouldn’t happen.  Aunt Jane told me it wouldn’t.”  

“Just…” he sniffed and trailed off.  “Keep walking, Smart Mouth.”  

They ended up in his Mom’s kitchen, like always, with Violet chomping at the bit to see her Gran.  It was times like these that he really wanted to hug Dr. Foster.  And Dr. Banner.  Both of them.  For giving them -- and his mom -- the gift that was all their lost time.  

He tried to make it back three times a year.  They usually stayed for a couple hours each visit.  

Of course, a quick look at his mother’s shocked face and the calendar on the wall clued him in as to what happened.  

Violet’s little shenanigans had landed them back seven years before the portal was supposed to drop them off.  And from the looks of things, it had landed them an hour and ten minutes before he was going to bring Darcy through that very door for the first time.  The day before he left.  He was going to have to cut the visit short today.  

He bit his lips for a second and reached out to grab Violet’s hand and hold her back.  “Hold on a sec, baby girl…”  Finally, everything started sliding into place.  Everything about that day in the kitchen where his mom was acting so weird.  

“Peter?”  Her expression was one of absolute amazement.  And she kept looking down at the little girl at his side.  

She always told him how she thought Violet looked like him, even though he couldn’t see it.  In his mind, she was a carbon copy of her mom.  Of Darcy.  But he supposed, seeing her for the first time like this? Struggling to get away, smudges on her hands and cheeks no matter how many times he and Darce tried to clean her up.  Violet really _was_ his kid.  It made sense.  

“Mom...this is going to sound really weird?  But I promise it’s all true...”  

She nodded, looking from Violet to him, and back again.  

“This is your granddaughter.  My daughter…” He turned towards Violet.  “Go on, honey, introduce yourself to your Gran.”   

“My name is Violet Jane Lewis-Maximoff…”  She grinned widely, showcasing her newly lost front teeth.  “I’m six years old.  And I’m pleased to meet you, Gran.”  

His mother blinked repeatedly.  “How...how did you…”  

“That purple thing we came in on?” he gestured towards the place the portal had dropped them.  “Dropped us from the future.”  

His mom seemed to chew on that for a moment before nodding and turning back to him.  “And her mother?  Is she…”  

“Darcy?  She’s fine.  She usually comes with us, but…” he grinned.  “We are uh...expecting again.  So she can’t you know...port with us until after the baby’s born.”  

His mother sat down in the chair by the table.  Violet immediately took the chair opposite her, which seemed to delight her to no ends.  

Peter took the chair beside his mom and slung the pink unicorn backpack from his shoulder.  It was full of art supplies and ponies.  It was weird.  How _long_ My Little Pony had endured.  He supposed there was always going to be a market for colorful ponies and unicorns saving their world from darkness.  

“I’mma color a picture for you, Gran…”  Violet said brightly.  “For your fridge?”  

“You color, kiddo.  But don’t get too comfortable, we have to head back early…”  Peter turned toward his mom.  “Look, this is going to sound so convoluted and unbelievable...but please.  Hear me out, okay?”   

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on [tumblr](http://dresupi.tumblr.com/)!

**Author's Note:**

> Give me love, guys. Because I lurrrrrvvvv y'all! <3 <3 <3


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